BATMAN BEYOND: The Second Rebirth
by DrachenRitter
Summary: A sequel to Reunited, set one year later. UPDATED - COMPLETE. When Terry McGinnis is badly injured, Melanie must make a difficult decision, as she founds herself one more time confronted with her own complicated past... Rated T.
1. 01: The Accident, Part 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Guess who's back, gang?  
First off, I want to thank everyone who took the time to read my _Batman Beyond _romance fic, _Reunited. _And I especially want to thank everyone who took the time to post their reviews.

I say this, because if you are reading this and haven't yet read _Reunited..._Well, I would encourage you to read it. Because this story is a direct sequel to it, picking up approximately one year later, and detailing the next step in the evolution of the relationship between Terry and Melanie. Note that while _Reunited _was first and foremost a romance, this story is not; it's more of an action/adventure story.  
That being said, if you haven't read _Reunited_ yet, definitely do so. If you already have, well thank you, and I hope you enjoy this next one.

* * *

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 1**

It was still early evening, and the sun hadn't set yet. But most of Gotham already lay under a deep twilight, and the cars Terry McGinnis saw, far below him, were already driving with their headlights on. Night came early, he thought, in the shadow of the tall steel-and-concrete skyscrapers that made up much of Gotham.

Still, from his vantage point at the top of one of, if not the single tallest building in the city he commanded an amazing view of almost the entire city.

"Funny, how peaceful it looks from up here - especially during the day." He muttered.

\- "Looks can be deceiving." Bruce Wayne commented dryly, and Terry nodded. Then he turned away from the window and looked back inside the enormous top-floor office of the Wayne Tower, headquarters of Wayne Technologies, Inc. - WayneTech, in the vernacular.

The office had changed very little over the years, even from the days when it had been the domain of Derek Powers, owner and CEO of Wayne-Powers. With Powers presumably dead and his equally crooked son Paxton in prison, Wayne had, a few years earlier, reacquired ownership of the company at the cost of every single penny of his own personal fortune. Then, over time he had not only led the rechristened company to a height of success it had not known in decades, but he had also completely rebuilt that personal fortune.

Whereas at the time of his return to the company he had no personal money to speak of - all of his assets, except for a modest pension, tied into the company - Bruce Wayne's personal net worth was now conservatively estimated as just south of twenty-six billion. And with the recently-announced merger of WayneTech and its closest business ally, Foxteca, analysts expected that number to continue to rise rapidly.

Terry looked up as the private elevator that led up to the office opened, and two men stepped into the office, heading for Wayne's desk.  
The first man - an African-American who looked to be in his mid-sixties, portly and balding, with a thick mustache and a genial expression on his face - was a stranger to Terry.  
The second, slightly younger, but with a full head of steel-grey hair, Terry recognized instantly.

"Terry," Bruce announced, standing up and walking around his desk to personally shake the first man's hand. "I want you to meet the two people who are going to be most important to the continued success of the company. Lucius Fox, Junior…and Tim Drake."

Terry stepped forward, and shook Fox's hand.  
\- "Lucius will handle the running of the company on a day-to-day basis as Vice-President, reporting to me. Lucius, Terry is my…personal assistant." Bruce explained vaguely, and Fox merely smiled.

\- "A pleasure to meet you, young man." Fox said jovially. Then he turned to Wayne. "You know, it's really good being back here again."

\- "I want to thank you, for being onboard with this merger." Wayne said. "Especially since…"

Fox shook his head impatiently.  
\- "It wasn't you that fired me, Mr. Wayne, it was that slime Powers." He said. "That's why I started Foxteca - to stay true to what you and my father taught me."

\- "Your father always called me by my name, Lucius." Bruce said, and Terry saw that he was grateful to the younger man nonetheless. "I'd appreciate it if you did the same."

\- "If you insist, Bruce. Thanks for letting me have my old office back, too."

Wayne nodded. Then turned to the other man and shook his hand too. Terry did likewise.

\- "Terry, you've already met Tim." He said, and both nodded. "He's coming onboard to handle the company's security, as well as to manage our computer systems."

\- "Good to see you again, kid." Tim said to Terry, who nodded. Then Tim turned to Bruce. "You too, old man."  
From anyone else, the expression would've been disrespectful, but Bruce said nothing - he merely nodded.

\- "It's good to have you back, Tim." He said quietly, and the three men - Wayne, Terry, and Drake - all understood what Bruce really meant by that statement.

Wayne returned to his seat, and Lucius and Tim sat in armchairs on the opposite side of the enormous desk as they discussed the next step in the integration process of what was now going to be called Wayne-Fox Technologies, Incorporated.

After a while, Drake stood.  
\- "If that's all," he said, "I need to finish setting up my office."

\- "Of course," Bruce nodded, and Drake left without another word.

Terry tuned out for a bit, staring out the window again as Wayne and Fox continued their meeting, until finally the latter stood up, and left after shaking Wayne's hand again.

Once he was gone, Terry stepped forward again, looking back at the closed doors of the elevator.  
Then he turned to the old man.

"I'm kind of surprised, Mr. Wayne." he commented. The old man looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and Terry thought to himself that, in the understated opulence of the enormous office instead of the perpetual twilight of the Batcave, he still looked exactly the same, leaning back in a comfortable chair as he surveyed his domain.

\- "About what?" He asked.

\- "I mean, Mr. Fox I can kinda understand," Terry started, "given that WayneTech and Foxteca are the same company now. But Tim Drake? After everything that went down, I figured he'd never want to get within ten miles of you, never mind set foot inside the building."

Bruce nodded curtly - the kid had a point. It had taken a lot of persuasion to convince Tim to come aboard, but he'd first reached out after the Joker debacle three and a half years earlier, and slowly had tried to mend things - a first, for him.

This - coming here, to WayneTech - Wayne-Fox Technologies, now - had been the hardest part.  
"Other than Barbara - and maybe your friend Max - Tim is the best there is where computers and security systems are concerned." Bruce said firmly. "Better than anyone I've ever seen - and for Wayne-Fox, I wanted the best there is."

_'Oh, where security systems are concerned, I can think of one person who might be better even than them.' _Terry thought to himself, hiding his amusement behind an impassive mask.

"Okay, fair enough." He said. "But how'd you even get him to agree to come onboard - I mean, last I talked to him, it sounded like he hated you."

\- "I agreed to pay him double what he made at his previous job, and to put his kid through college." Wayne replied gruffly. "I also gave him stock in the company. And I promised him he would never have to go _anywhere _near _anything_ with a cape."

\- "What cape?" Terry joked, and Bruce just shook his head without replying. Terry understood perfectly well what he'd meant, and they both knew it.

"But man…If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were getting sentimental in your old age." Terry continued, tongue-in-cheek to the last. "I mean, the merger with Foxteca - bringing back Mr. Fox; now bringing in Tim Drake. Next thing you know, you'll be mending fences with Dick Grayson, too."

\- "Maybe…" Bruce commented. He hadn't reached out to Dick yet. He knew Dick, like Barbara here in Gotham, had risen to command the Blüdhaven P.D.

But there had been so much bad blood between them, and their last parting had been…to call it _bitter _would be massively understating it. But maybe Terry was right. Maybe it was time to mend things with him, too.

Soon afterwards, Wayne stood and intimated to his "assistant" that it was time to leave. Terry followed half a step behind the old man until they reached the parking garage, where a sleek, low-slung dark blue limousine waited. Terry opened the car's rear door, and Bruce eased himself in with only the slightest difficulty.

Then the door was closed, Terry got into the driver's seat, and pulled the car out of its spot with a practiced ease that said he had done it numerous times before.

Once they were out of the building, he gunned the powerful car down the street and drove them through and out of the city, until they reached the gates of Wayne Manor.

The gates opened noiselessly as the limousine approached. A quarter of a mile later, the car was parked, and the two were on their way in.

"Need anything else tonight, sir?" Terry asked.

\- "Keep your phone close by." Wayne said shortly. "I'll call you if I do."

"Yes, sir." Terry replied, and he left, taking a moment to pat the 150-pound Ace affectionately on the head before making his way out the door to the sleek, powerful motorcycle he rode.

He retrieved the same helmet he always wore, put it on, and started the bike, which came to life with a deep, rumbling growl. Then the single powerful headlight snapped on, and the bike roared down the quarter-mile drive and out the reinforced steel gates, which slid noiselessly shut behind him.

* * *

As Terry rode, he kept his attention on the road in front of him and the cars around him. Nonetheless he found himself thinking about the old man, and the undercurrent of tension that persisted between them.

It had all started the previous winter, when he and Melanie reconnected. Wayne didn't trust Melanie, didn't trust that she had changed, that her previous life - as Ten of the Royal Flush Gang - was over. They had argued a couple of times, but the worst one had been when Wayne had learned that Terry had told Melanie the whole truth about who and what he was.

The old man had been livid, and so angry...rarely had Terry seen him get that pissed off. But Terry stood his ground, as he had before when the subject was mentioned. After that day, Wayne had never mentioned the subject again, but things were still tense. Terry chose to leave well enough alone.

One day, he hoped, Wayne would understand. Not that he'd ever admit to having been wrong, Terry thought ruefully.

As for Melanie, the two of them were now living together on the Gotham State University campus, and she was now attending classes full-time. This meant, of course, that she had to work more often nights and week-ends. But that was all right. And then once a month, his mother still held their usual family days, and Melanie was always there.

Tonight would be the first time they had an evening to themselves for nearly a month, and Terry had made plans accordingly. Which is why he was now heading not for his mother's or the university, but for Deckard's Kitchen, where Melanie still worked. They had agreed to meet there, and would leave once she had finished her shift for the day.

He was almost at his destination, and slowed down as he neared an intersection. The light turned green as he approached, and he gunned the bike through the crossing.

That was when the car hit.

Terry didn't see it, didn't realize what was coming until he heard a sudden screech of brakes, as a car ran the red light and tried to swerve to avoid the bike that was still just crossing the intersection. Too late, and too close.

Terry felt sudden, agonizing pain in his leg as its fender slammed into the back third of the bike, and he screamed in pain.

The momentum of the collision shoved the rear wheel out to the side, nearly snapping the rear axle off and completely throwing off the bike's balance.

Incredibly, its own momentum kept the bike moving forward for perhaps another half a second, even as it keeled over sideways, throwing off Terry as it fell. The bike slid a few feet down the asphalt with a grinding of metal until it finally stopped.

Terry hit the ground hard a few feet from the twisted remains of his bike, and felt a sudden, sharp pain in his head before everything went black.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	2. 02: The Accident, Part 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **How's that for a cliffhanger, huh?  
Well, no need to fret, because here's the next part :P

* * *

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 2**

The day had begun like any other for nineteen-year-old Melanie Walker. She had woken up early and showered, gotten dressed. Then, she had gone to work.

She had secured a grant that had allowed her to make the move to full-time student at Gotham State University, although her classes were almost exclusively morning or early afternoon classes, so that she could work afternoons and nights. As a result she had been forced to cut back slightly on her hours, but she usually tried to work at least partway through most school holidays, to make up for that. And she usually worked one day on weekends as well, which was why she was here on a Saturday evening.

The big digital clock in the back of the kitchen kept ticking the minutes, and with each one that passed, she was more and more eagerly anticipating the end of her shift. Not that she didn't mind working at the Kitchen - it was good, honest work, and it paid her bills. However, this evening was special, because it was one of the rare evenings she would not be working.

Her schedule wasn't the only thing that had changed in the past year; her living arrangements had as well.  
Since moving back to Gotham after getting out on parole, she had lived in a dingy one-bedroom flat in one of the seedier neighborhoods of downtown Gotham City, not far from the Kitchen. The lease had expired six months earlier, and she had not renewed it.  
Instead, she now lived with Terry on the university campus, and they split the cost of housing between the two of them. Despite this, between their classes and respective jobs, they didn't have a lot of time to themselves, and so she cherished every second that she could spend with him.

Tonight would be one such occasion; With how busy they both had been, it had been several weeks since they had been able to spend an evening together, just to themselves. She had no idea what he had planned for this evening, but she was eagerly anticipating it. Especially since he was going to be picking him up.

Any minute now, he would pull up to the restaurant on his motorcycle, parking it just outside. He would walk in through the door, and then as soon as her shift was ended, they would leave together.

He usually picked her up on evenings they were going to be going out together.

She often worried about Terry, because his job was so dangerous. But he could take care of himself.

The TV in the corner of the diner was on, but she wasn't paying too much attention. It was turned to a local news channel, which had been reporting on the biggest announcement of the day - the WayneTech/Foxteca merger - and she had caught a glimpse, when the story broke, of Bruce Wayne as he arrived at the tall (even by Gotham's standards) skyscraper that was the Gotham-based multinational's headquarters, flanked by Foxteca's CEO. And she had allowed herself a small smile when she saw Terry standing just a few feet behind them.

But that had been hours earlier. Still, the merger was the biggest story of the day, and most networks were talking of nothing else.

Melanie was washing dishes in the kitchen, so she wasn't paying attention to the TV. She thought of Jack, as she often did when dishwashing duties fell to her.  
She had been crossing from the sink to put away a stack of dishes she had just finished washing and drying, when she heard Cal, the floor manager, speak up as he glanced at it.

"Man, that's some accident," he commented, "and it looks like it's just a few blocks from here."

She looked up. The news anchor, in his usual bland monotone, was reporting a vehicular collision - and she saw that Cal was right: she recognized that intersection, which was on the way from the restaurant to her former flat.

She saw a red car, its front end damaged on one side where it had hit. The anchor reported that the driver, who was intoxicated, had been arrested. Then she saw the vehicle it had hit, which was not another car, but a sleek, high-powered motorcycle, its color a distinctive pale blue-violet.

And when she saw it, the blood drained from her face.

The dishes fell to the floor and shattered at her feet with a loud crash.

Cal turned at the noise, as did several other people. And when he saw the deathly pallor, the horrified expression on Melanie's face, he became instantly concerned.

"Hey Mel, are you...?" He started to ask, but she did not hear the rest of the question. She ran, bursting through the kitchen and crossing the restaurant.  
She shouldered the door open, turned, and started running up the block, ignoring the yells from Cal, who had followed.

She sprinted up the street, and as she neared the intersection she saw that GCPD cruisers had blocked the intersection on all four sides, and she saw an ambulance was there. She kept running, and as she approached, one of the cops saw her.

"Hey, Miss. You can't..."

Ignoring the cop's protest, she slammed her palm flat on the metal front of the cruiser and vaulted over it, landing in a crouch on the other side, and by the time the cop had walked around the cruiser, she was already on her feet and running towards the ambulance.

The back of the ambulance was open, and paramedics were busy around a body in the street.

_ "TERRY!"_ she screamed when she caught a glimpse of the familiar dark brown jacket.

She tried to draw closer, but suddenly felt a viselike grip on her shoulder. She turned to find herself facing a woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties, slightly taller than her and wearing GCPD uniform. She was olive-skinned, with black hair and keen, dark eyes.

"Let 'em do their job, kid." she said firmly. She spoke with a slight, almost musical lilt.

Meanwhile, the paramedics very carefully placed Terry on the stretcher. His helmet had been removed, and he was covered in blood. Within moments, he'd been loaded onto the ambulance, and the paramedics hopped in the back with him. The door slammed shut, and with its lights flashing and sirens blaring, the ambulance took off.

Melanie stood immobile, watching the white-and-red vehicle until it disappeared down the street.

"You know him?" The cop asked, and Melanie could only nod. Then the cop turned away for a moment to address the others, before stepping towards the cruiser. "Hop in. I'll give you a lift to the hospital." She said.

Despite an innate distrust of Gotham's Finest - due, of course, to a long history of avoiding them, in the old days - Melanie could not help but think that this thirty-something officer was someone she could trust.  
She followed, climbing into the passenger's seat as the cop entered the driver's side. Then the vehicle tore off after the ambulance.

"Thank you." Melanie said hesitantly. The cop nodded. Then Melanie saw a photograph fixed to the dashboard. A woman wearing civilian attire, but with a badge pinned to her belt, a young child next to her.

\- "Is that you?" she asked.

\- "With my mother," the cop answered, and Melanie realized with a start that the cop was the child in the picture. "She's the reason I became a cop."

Funny, Melanie thought, how that sometimes happened.  
It could have happened with her and her mother, too...if things had been different. She did not regret that it had not, though she regretted the estrangement from her mother, sometimes.

"I'm Elena." The cop said. "Officer Elena Montoya."

\- "Melanie Walker." She answered, and she saw the flash of recognition in the cop's eyes, though she said nothing.

\- "Is he your boyfriend?" she asked, referring to Terry, and Melanie nodded.

\- "He was going to pick me up from work - we were going to go out tonight."

Elena made no further attempt at conversation, and soon they arrived at the hospital. Melanie thanked the cop again as she stepped out, and was heading towards the door when she heard a frantic voice cry out her name.

She turned at the sound of the voice, and immediately recognized Terry's mother running towards her, looking completely distraught.  
\- "Mrs. McGinnis!" Melanie exclaimed.

\- "The hospital called me at work, and I came over right away." Mary said. "Do you...?"

\- "The accident wasn't far from the Kitchen, so I ran over. When I arrived, the ambulance was just leaving." Melanie said, leaving out her glimpse of Terry, unconscious and covered in blood. "Then I got a ride to the hospital...but I don't know."

She saw her own fear mirrored in Mary's expression, and the two women entered the hospital.  
The attendant at the desk informed them that Terry was in surgery, and still worried, they both sat down to wait.

"What about Matt?" Melanie asked after a while.

\- "I called Helen and asked her to pick him up. He'll spend the evening at their house; I'll pick him up tonight, or tomorrow morning."

\- "Okay." Melanie said quietly.  
They sat in tense, fearful silence, waiting for some word, some indication that Terry would be okay. The alternative...Melanie refused to contemplate it.  
How bad would his injuries be? What would it mean for his job?

Finally, hours later a tall, grave-looking older man wearing a long white coat stepped towards them. He was broad, with sharp features, and brown hair that was starting to gray at the temples, and a kindly expression.  
"Mrs. McGinnis?" He asked, and Mary stood. "I'm Doctor Elliot."

\- "How is he?" She asked immediately, fear and worry etched on her face.

\- "Still unconscious, but he is out of surgery and stable, for now." Doctor Elliot replied.

\- "Is he going to be all right?" she insisted.

\- "At this stage, I am afraid it's too early to say for certain." Doctor Elliot replied. "He's lost a lot of blood, and his injuries were extremely severe; a compound fracture to the left leg being the most serious. Although he also suffered a fracture of the right forearm and a couple of cracked ribs. There were some fairly severe lacerations, and he suffered some mild head trauma - a concussion."

Mary gasped. She was white as a sheet, horrified at the extent of Terry's injuries. Melanie was at her side, and Doctor Elliot continued, his tone reassuring.  
"Honestly, it could have been much worse - the head trauma, while a concern, is surprisingly mild given the nature of the accident."

\- "He...he always wore a helmet." Mary replied in a feeble voice.

\- "Well, that helmet probably saved his life." Elliot replied reassuringly. "A crash like that could have killed him; he's very lucky to be alive. Obviously, we're going to be keeping a very close eye on him, but barring any complications, he should be all right."

Melanie let out a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding, and finally Mrs. McGinnis seemed to relax, though she was still very pale.  
\- "Oh, thank God." she exclaimed. Still...his injuries were so severe...she was still worried.

\- "Your son's in good hands, Mrs. McGinnis. You should head home. We'll call you if there's any change."

\- "Thank you, Doctor." Mary said tremulously. The doctor bade them both good night and turned away, and they slowly, reluctantly left.

\- "Melanie," Mary asked as they crossed the threshold and headed towards the parking lot, "I can drop you off at the dorm if you would like. Or would you mind spending the night at the apartment - you could sleep in Terry's room. I can drop you off at the campus in the morning."

Melanie hesitated. Then she hugged Terry's mother, as if she were her own - which she might as well have been.  
\- "Thank you." she said gratefully.

They drove slowly from Gotham General back to the McGinnis residence.  
It was late, but Melanie fixed them both a light supper, which they ate in silence before Mrs. McGinnis went to bed.

Melanie made her way to Terry's room. There, she took off her clothes and slipped into the single bed, remembering the last time she had slept in this particular bed almost a year earlier. The recollection set her heart racing, as it usually did.  
But on this night, she lay awake long into the night before finally falling into a troubled sleep...


	3. 03: The Decision

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **And here is the next chapter.

* * *

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 3**

Melanie woke with a start the following morning, and experienced a moment of confusion as she looked around and did not immediately recognize where she was. She looked around and realized that she was in Terry's bedroom at Mrs. McGinnis's apartment.

She checked the alarm clock on the nightstand and saw that it was almost ten o'clock.  
_'Well, that's all right,' _she thought, stretching languidly as she stepped out of bed. _'It's Sunday - I don't have any classes, and I don't have to work today.' _

Still, she was troubled. Today, she was not supposed to have awoken alone. Terry should have been there. She felt dread like a weight in the pit of her stomach as the previous day's events came back to her. The accident. The hospital.

_'Terry...'_ she thought, remembering her last sight of him.  
He was at the hospital, unconscious, with his right arm and left leg broken, plus other injuries. The Doctor had said he would make it, but Melanie was still worried, and probably would continue to worry until Terry was back on his feet and out of the hospital for good.

She shivered, though the temperature was mild.  
"Get ahold of yourself, Melanie." She told herself, as she climbed out of the bed.  
The first thing she had to do was to call the Kitchen, which she did immediately. She spoke with Cal, who was relieved that she was okay, and explained the situation.  
That accomplished, she set about getting herself ready.

It now occurred to her that she had nothing to wear except her uniform, but when she stepped outside she found a rather nice green blouse and navy-blue pencil skirt on a clothes hanger on the doorknob.

_'What?...' _she wondered.

"If you want to wash those clothes you were wearing yesterday, I'm going to be doing the laundry this afternoon." she heard Mary McGinnis say from the kitchen. "Since I doubt you have anything else to wear, I can lend you some of mine for the day. It might not quite fit, but..."

She looked up, and saw Mrs. McGinnis was in the kitchen. Melanie noticed that her eyes were red and swollen, and she looked like she hadn't slept well.  
_'Well,'_ she thought, _'neither did I.'_

_-_ "Thank you," she said gratefully, touched by the kindness of the gesture.  
Carefully picking up the hanger, she slipped into the bathroom and took a shower. Then she showered, got dressed, and stepped out into the living room.

As she did so, the phone rang.

McGinnis residence." Mary said flatly as soon as she picked up the phone.

\- "Good morning, Ms. McGinnis." a deep, male voice said. She recognized the voice fairly quickly, and wondered why she had not expected the call. More to the point, she wondered why Wayne hadn't called the previous day. "Is Terry there?"

\- "Good morning, Mr. Wayne." Mary said, and she was surprised to see a momentary frown on Melanie's face when she heard the name. A second later, it was gone.  
The next few minutes, however, were a more pressing concern, and she hesitated a second, unsure of how to say it. She finally decided to just say it plainly. "Terry…was in a rather bad motorcycle accident yesterday. He's in the hospital."

There was silence on the line for several moments, as Bruce Wayne processed what he had just heard and its implications.  
\- "I am…very sorry to hear that." He said slowly, making an effort to keep his voice calm. "How is he?" He asked, and Mary McGinnis heard a note of genuine concern in the old man's voice.

\- "When we left the hospital last night, he was stable, but had not regained consciousness." She answered. "However, the doctor was confident that he should be okay."

\- "I see." Wayne said. "I'm sorry - I'm sure this must be difficult for you. But if it's not too much trouble, could you let me know if you hear anything?"

\- "Of course." She said. "Good day, Mr. Wayne."  
The old man thanked her, and it struck her as strange that - for an employer - Mr. Wayne seemed unduly concerned about Terry. But then again, she thought, Terry was no ordinary employee, was he?

* * *

Bruce Wayne slowly lowered the phone and set it down in its cradle, then leaned back in his deep, high-backed armchair.  
He was worried.

"Damn it." He swore under his breath. Terry in the hospital, unconscious, after a motorcycle accident. That meant that Batman was out of commission.

Although medecine had come a long way in the past few decades, depending on the severity of his injuries Terry could be out of commission for weeks, if not a month or more. And that was an unacceptable situation - Batman could NOT be out of action that long, not in this city.

Bruce knew his time as Batman had long passed - his heart could no longer support such exertion. Terry was Batman now.  
Unfortunately, Terry was out, and there was nobody else whom Bruce Wayne trusted to undertake this mission. Certainly not that friend of Terry's, Max - who while she knew and understood the importance of what they did, in Bruce's view lacked the discipline to be reliably counted on to assume the role.

For a moment, he considered asking his old friend Clark Kent to lend a hand, but dismissed the thought almost immediately. Clark knew and liked Terry - which was fine, but Clark liked most everyone he met in their business. More importantly, Clark trusted Terry, and he owed them for the entire Starro affair a few years earlier.

He could have called in that favor. Besides, Clark was one of very, very few people still living whom Bruce trusted completely, though they didn't always get along. But upon reflexion, he decided not to.

He would have to think very, very carefully about what he would do...

* * *

Melanie spent the rest of the day with Mary McGinnis as well as Matt, whom they picked up from the Bertinellis', where he'd spent the night. Despite their worry about Terry, it was a pleasant experience, and that evening when Mrs. McGinnis dropped her off on campus, she felt a little better.

When she arrived at the dorm that evening, her eyes fell on the worn dark brown backpack that lay in a corner of the bedroom, which she knew belonged to Terry. And she knew what it contained.

She had long since come to terms with the fact that Terry was Batman; he had trusted her with that information, and she repaid his trust by maintaining absolute silence, and by supporting him however she could.  
She had lost count of the number of times he had come home in the small hours of the morning, tired and carrying new bruises or other injuries, and helped to treat them as best she could.

She also knew that as Batman, he reported to that mean-tempered old bastard Wayne.

She had neither met nor spoken with the old man a single time since that encounter in Vreeland Park the previous year, but knew from conversations with Terry that he continued to remain skeptical of her intentions.

That was fine - like she'd told him, she didn't give a damn what he thought. Terry knew better, and that was all that mattered to her. And in return, she did what she could. But sometimes, she wished that she could do more for him. She wondered what it was like out there.

It was a tempting thought...if Terry couldn't, then maybe...  
Shaking her head, she dismissed those thoughts and slipped into bed. And soon, she was asleep, thinking of Terry and hoping for his recovery.

* * *

She caught up with Chelsea and Max at lunch the following day.

"Hey, Melanie!" she heard Chelsea hail as she was looking for a seat, and walked over to sit next to her.  
Max was sitting across from them, and greeted Melanie with a smile.

"Hey, guys." Melanie said.

\- "We were just talking about you - hadn't seen you yet today, wondering how you guys were doing." Chelsea said.

\- "You okay, girl?" Max asked, sounding concerned. Melanie's eyes were red, and to Max's eye her smile seemed slightly forced, as if she was trying to look happier than she felt.

Then there was the fact that Terry was nowhere to be seen, and the two were usually inseparable.  
She had heard something over the week-end and thought she might know what have happened, but she wasn't sure.

\- "I'm fine." Melanie answered. "I'm just...a little worried about Terry, that's all."

\- "Why," Chelsea asked, "what happened? D'you guys have a fight or something?"

\- "No, nothing like that." Melanie said. "It's just...there was an accident. Over the week-end. When he was on his way to pick me up at work Saturday night, a car hit his bike."

\- "Daaaaamn." Max muttered. Chelsea just looked horrified. "Is Terry...?"

\- "He's in the hospital." Melanie answered the unfinished question. "He was hurt pretty badly."

\- "Oh, man. Melanie, I'm sorry." she said contritely, "I didn't realize...Do you know if he'll be okay?"

\- "I don't know." Melanie said, and her voice shook slightly. "The doctors think he'll be all right, but..."  
Whatever the doctor had said Saturday night, she was still worried that Terry might not make it, and she didn't know what she would do if she lost him.

Max, for once, was silent. She had heard a news story over the week-end about an accident, and had called Terry's number - with no response.  
That confirmed what she thought, and she was very worried about Terry, who was one of the best friends she had. For a couple of reasons.

She knew that Melanie knew the truth about what Terry did - the two of them had spoken about it - and Max had warned him, way back when he first introduced her to Melanie, that he should tell her.  
Two months later, when he had, he had told Max that he'd done so, and about the old man's reaction.  
Max, of course, had known for years, ever since figuring it out when they were in High School.

She also suspected that Melanie was aware that Max knew as well.  
\- "I guess that means he's not going to be able to work for a while." Max commented, looking at Melanie. "Wonder who's going to tell his boss."

Melanie nodded.

\- "He already knows. He found out yesterday." she said without elaborating. "As to what he'll do with Terry in the hospital, I have no idea."

Okay...fair enough." Max commented. "You don't like him much, looks like."

"No, I really don't." She said flatly.  
Max didn't say anything further on the subject.

That was fine with Melanie, who wasn't all that comfortable discussing Terry's "job" - if you could call being a vigilante who spent most nights pummeling criminals with his bare hands a job.  
So she changed the subject. "Terry's going to be out for a while, though. Going to need to do something about his classes."

"I've got a lot of classes with him - I'll help out." Max said.

"Thanks." Melanie said.  
They kept talking for a while, but before long, the three friends had to go their separate ways as they went to their next classes. Melanie had one more class that day, and then she returned home to change, before catching the L train to downtown.

When she arrived at the Kitchen, she got straight to work. She tried not to dwell on Terry's condition, but it was hard not to think about.  
And it was even harder not to think about the backpack that, even now, sat in their locked apartment...

Melanie was closing that night at the Kitchen, so it was close to midnight by the time she got back to their apartment. During her break, she had called Mrs. McGinnis at home, and found out that there had been no word as yet from the hospital.

'_At least it means there's no bad news.' _she thought.

She dropped her purse on the floor next to the bed, along with her book bag. She had assignments for a couple of her classes, but decided to put them off until the following day.  
She usually worked only a half-shift on Tuesdays, so she would be able to do them before going in to work, after class.

She was getting ready for bed, and she thought about Terry, in the hospital.  
She missed him, missed the way he made her feel like everything would be all right, no matter how difficult things got. Then as her mind wandered, and she found herself thinking once again of Terry's job - or rather, his double life as Batman.

She understood double lives better than most - she had lived one herself. And as she lay there thinking, an idea occurred to her again.

Previously, she had dismissed it out of hand, but this time she did not.  
With Terry wounded, who would do what he did, and could not?

She quietly stole away from their bed until she stood in the corner where his backpack still lay, apparently forgotten.  
She got down on her knees, opened the bag, and withdrew its contents.

It was a one-piece bodysuit, with a full-face mask attached at the back of the neck - at first glance not unlike the similar garment she had worn as Ten, which she had burned the previous year.  
Except that it was thicker, the fabric felt heavier, and very slightly stiffer. A belt with a large, round buckle went around the waist. The belt was built into the waist of the suit, and ringed with slender metal containers.  
The entire thing was black in color, except for the large insignia, bright red, on the upper torso.

She guessed that this apparently innocuous suit was probably far more than it seemed at first glance.

"I wonder what that mean-tempered old bastard would say, if he knew what I was thinking." She muttered, and smiled thinly.  
That was another part of the reason she had refused to entertain this idea; she didn't want to have to deal with him.  
But then again...what better way to prove the old bastard wrong once and for all?

No sooner had she slipped it on that she knew she had been right: This thing was far, far more than it first seemed.  
To her surprise, it fit her perfectly, despite the fact that Terry was a couple of inches taller and a good deal broader than she was. But the suit conformed to her smaller, slighter build like it had been tailored for her.

She spent a few minutes getting used to the fit and how the suit affected her movements.  
Wide awake now, she carefully opened a window, and slipped outside, sliding the window shut before disappearing into the night.


	4. 04: Awakening

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Now comes Chapter 4. Things start to move a little faster here, now...  
Enjoy

* * *

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 4**

Over the days that followed, Melanie's routine changed subtly. After night fell, once she was free of other obligations - after completing her shift at the Kitchen, or else once she was done with what work she was doing that day - she put on the suit and slipped away, spending part of the night roaming the streets of the city she called home.

She knew she wasn't as good as Terry was, she didn't have his experience. But she had skills of her own, skills that she was more than willing to put to use. And she had made quite a lot of progress on her own, without that decrepit old geezer Wayne to deal with.

The first night had been the most difficult, as she had been completely unused to the suit and what it could do, although she'd had a pretty good feel for how it affected her mobility. But she kept herself in excellent physical shape, which along with the extensive training she had received in her youth allowed her to adapt pretty easily. And with every night, she had learned more about what the suit could do, but still she felt like she had barely scratched the surface of the suit's capabilities.

_I can see why Terry does this.' _She thought to herself as she slipped back into their apartment, closed the window, and stripped off the suit, then carefully folded it. She stowed it in a bag, which she hid in their closet.  
Then, she slipped into bed, and was asleep within minutes.

* * *

One consequence of her new night life, however, was that she was not getting as much sleep, which was starting to tell. Fortunately, Melanie thought, Winter Break was due to start, which would give her a couple of weeks during which she had a little more breathing room. After that...she would just have to see.

As long as she could just get through mid-terms.

"Are you okay?" Chelsea asked her as they left their first class of the day. "You look slagged."

\- "Sorry, I...haven't been sleeping much lately." Melanie replied vaguely.

\- "You worried about Terry?" Chelsea asked, and Melanie nodded. Well, that was partly true. "Have you heard anything?"

\- "Nothing yet." she replied, sounding tired and worried. "Which I guess means there's no bad news. But no good news either."

At that moment, her phone rang, and she fished it out of her pocket.  
"This is Melanie." she said, and when she heard who it was, her heart skipped a beat. "Mrs. McGinnis. What's the matter?"

Her eyes went wide, and she said nothing for a while.  
"I have classes this morning, but I'm working a half-shift today so I don't have to be at the Kitchen until six. Can you pick me up at the dorm around 2:00?...Thanks a lot. I'll see you then."  
When she hung up the phone, she let out a sigh of relief.

\- "Good news?" Chelsea asked.

\- "The best," Melanie replied. "Terry woke up this morning. The doctors say we can see him this afternoon."

\- "All right!" Chelsea exclaimed, "Bet you're happy about that."

\- "Overjoyed. But I'm still not going to stop worrying until he's out of the hospital and back on his feet again." Melanie said.

Chelsea shrugged, and the two friends continued on their walk, chatting animatedly as they headed to their next class.

The rest of the morning went by fast. After class, Melanie and Chelsea grabbed some lunch, and then she headed back to the dorm, dropping off her book bag and picking up her purse.  
She thought about taking the bag in which she had stored the suit, but decided not to. She made sure the windows were all shut and latched, then locked the door.

Soon enough, she saw Mary McGinnis's car pull up, and she saw that Matt was in the back seat. She climbed in the front, and it would have been difficult to say whether she or the eleven-year-old was the more eager to arrive.

The trip to the hospital seemed to take no time at all, and when they arrived they were taken straight to Terry's room.  
When they walked in, Terry was sleeping.

He had slept most of the day, since the last time Doc Elliott came in to check on him that morning. He had bandages across his torso, his other leg, and his head where he had injured himself in the accident.  
He couldn't remember exactly what had happened. His head hurt, and he felt disoriented. So he slept.

When his eyes opened, the first thing he saw was an angelic face bent over him, framed by long, flowing blonde hair.

"Hey." Melanie said, and he smiled weakly. "You had me worried."

\- "You had all of us worried." He heard another voice say, and when he turned his head he saw his mother sitting in a second chair at the foot of his bed. Matt was standing next to her.  
All three of them looked worried. But he could also see that they were relieved to see him awake.

\- "Sorry." He said. He looked at Melanie again, and he started to notice details that looked odd to him.  
There were dark circles under her eyes, and behind her smile he thought she looked tired, like...

She saw him looking.  
\- "I haven't been getting much sleep for the past few days." She said. "But don't worry about that now. I'm just glad you're...gonna be okay."

\- "Yeah..." he said. "What about..."

\- "Mr. Wayne called the day after your accident." His mom said, guessing what he was about to ask. "I told him what happened. And I called the University as well - everything's taken care of."

\- "You'll have some catching up to do, you're missing mid-terms." Melanie continued, "but Max and I'll help."

\- "That's good." Terry said. Then he glanced at Matt, and grinned. "How 'bout you, twip? You been worried about me too?"

Mary frowned, but for once said nothing.  
Matt made a face, like he was annoyed - which he was - but did not, for once, retaliate.

\- "Yeah, kinda." He said. "Wha'dya have to go and almost kill yourself for, anyway?"

\- "MATT!" Mary exclaimed, outraged.

Terry laughed, but it hurt his ribs to do so and he stopped pretty quickly.  
\- "Sure," he said, still chuckling, "I wanted to put myself in the hospital."

Mary thought the joke was in poor taste, but let it slide. It could have been so much worse, she thought...  
But he was okay - or he would be. That was the important part. And at least for a while she wouldn't have to worry about him risking his neck every single night.

They talked for a while longer. Terry was in good spirits despite his injuries, and was only too happy to listen to Matt talking about what he'd been up to. Melanie simply stayed at his side, holding his uninjured left hand in hers, a peaceful smile on her face.

After a while, Mary hustled Matt out of the room to give the two of them some privacy, advising Melanie that she would wait for her.

Melanie smiled and thanked her.

Once they were alone, Terry's expression grew serious.  
"Melanie, are you sure you're okay?" He asked. "You look like you've got something on your mind."

\- "I'm fine." She said, but he looked unconvinced.

\- "You're sure?" Terry insisted. "You know, you can tell me anything. I won't judge - ever. Even if..." He let the thought trail off, but Melanie frowned. She knew what he was alluding to.

\- "It's nothing like that." She said, a little more sharply than she intended to.

\- "But if there were something, you would tell me." Terry said.

\- "Of course." She said softly, and he felt her squeezing his hand in hers. She leaned in, and he felt her fingers on his cheek, her touch gentle, fleeting.  
Then she backed away again, sinking into her chair. "I've just...been working a lot, and I've been worried about you."

\- "Well, I'm far from fine," he said with a wry grin, "but I'm alive. And I'll recover. You don't have to worry, I'm not going anywhere."

\- "I hope not." She said quietly. "I don't know what I would do if you did."

The silence stretched between them for several minutes. Terry's head still hurt, but it didn't bother him as much.  
\- "Well, don't overwork yourself." He asked. "You know I'll be there for you. Always."

She heard the concern in his voice, and could have laughed. He had almost died, he was in the hospital with two broken limbs and a number of other injuries, and he was worried about _her.  
_Finally she smiled again, and as he had before, Terry thought that she looked so much more beautiful when she smiled.

\- "You look tired yourself." She said.

\- "Me? Nah." He protested. "I've been sleeping all day. You working tonight?"

\- "Just a half-shift." She said.

\- "Well do me a favor and try to get some sleep." He said. "You look like you need it."

\- "All right." she said. She stood, bent over the bed, and kissed him, long and slow.

\- "I missed that." He breathed when their lips parted.

\- "Me too." She replied softly, and kissed him again. "I'll come by again soon. I love you."  
She stood, and with a long, last look back from the doorway, left the room, softly closing the door behind her.

She met Mrs. McGinnis and Matt in the lobby, and they all headed back to the car. They left the hospital, and Mrs. McGinnis dropped Melanie off on campus. She went straight up to the apartment she shared with Terry.  
She had a couple of hours still before she was due to start her shift at the Kitchen, so she spent the time working on her assignments for class.

At five o'clock, she retrieved her bag from where it was in the closet, and left, locking the apartment before she made her way to the stop where she caught the E train to downtown.

She arrived with time to spare, changed into her uniform and headed into the kitchen to start working.

"Hey, Mel." Cal said when he saw her. "How are you holdin' up?"

\- "Fine," she replied as she got to work. "I went to see Terry at the hospital today. He's doing better."

\- "That's good." Cal replied. She smiled. And she got right back to work.

* * *

Melanie wasn't scheduled to close that night, and Cal saw how tired she looked at recommended she go home when she asked whether he needed her to stay.

"You look dead on your feet, Mel." He'd said. "Get on home and get some shut-eye."  
So leave she did. She missed the E train so she had to catch the L, which took a little longer to reach the university.  
As she sat in the train, she was pensive, thinking about Terry and their conversation that day.

She had not mentioned to Terry what she had done. She wasn't sure why, but she had not told him that, while he was in the hospital, she had tried to take his place. But she knew that she would have to eventually.

The past year, she had been happier than she had been in a long, long time. Because she knew that Terry was there for her, no matter how hard things got.

And they were hard. Since striking out on her own, and especially since she started trying to put herself through college, there had been times when she could barely manage to make ends meet.

Things were a little easier now. The grant she had gotten paid for her classes, and since moving in with Terry, they split the cost of housing. That had been his idea, and she had agreed immediately not just because it made it easier for her financially, but also emotionally.  
Because it meant she could be closer to him. And now that they had each other, that alone made everything else worth bearing.

"Next time," she muttered as she climbed off the train and made her way home, "I'll tell him." And she slipped into the apartment.

She considered going out again, and she glanced at the closet, where she had very carefully hidden the bag in which she had stowed it. After Terry got better, she guessed she would have to give it back. But did she want to?

_'He shouldn't have to bear that burden alone.'_ she thought. But she wasn't sure whether Terry would be willing to let her continue to share that with him.  
And she _knew _Wayne wouldn't agree…

She dismissed those thoughts, shaking her head.  
"The suit is Terry's." she said resolutely. "I will keep it until he recovers. After that, we'll decide what the next step will be."

She decided not to go out after all. She was too tired, and she needed sleep.

She changed into her nightgown and slipped into bed. Soon, she slept more soundly than she had all week.

* * *

Elsewhere, an older man sat at the head of a table, looking around at the small group of people assembled around him. Only one chair at the table remained empty, and it would not for long.  
He was tall and thin, but strong, with high cheekbones, and an arrogant air. He gazed coldly from the woman seated on his immediate right to the empty chair next to her, and then to the other members of their gathering.

And he smiled, though his eyes remained cold.  
"Very well, everyone." He said. "It has taken quite some time, but I would like for you all to welcome Wyatt Trantel, our final recruit."

A door behind the older man opened, and a second man entered. He was much younger, in his mid-thirties. Of middling height, he had a sallow, pointed face and small, narrow eyes, which darted from one face to another as he took in the assembled group. There was in his expression a thinly-veiled cruelty that made the youngest member of the small assembly shiver in revulsion.

The woman greeted the newcomer and gestured toward the empty chair was next to her. Trantel nodded and took his place, as she welcomed him. The others then followed suit.

The older man at the head of the table looked around, and he smiled again.  
They were ready.

And soon, he would at last have his revenge…


	5. 05: Missing

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I've gotten some comments about the lack of action so far, for which I do apologize. I was originally expecting to get up to this point within the first 2-3 chapters and then get on with the action, but there was just too much to cover.  
I must also apologize that this chapter is again light on action, but it sets up for next chapter, which will have a fair bit of action as well as move the plot forward.

* * *

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 5**

In his room at Gotham General Hospital, Terry stared morosely out the nearby window. A light snow fell, and the sky was a dull grey.  
His injuries were healing; the fracture in his arm and cracked ribs were healing most rapidly. The more serious break in his leg had been set, and it was slowly on the mend, as was the head injury.  
He still felt some disorientation as a result of his concussion, and there were gaps in his memory - he couldn't remember very well a lot of what had happened the day of the accident. But he was getting better.

_'Not fast enough.' _He thought. Every day, every hour he spent stuck here meant that there was no Batman out there…

He heard the door open, and saw a tall, broad-shouldered old man, leaning on a lacquered wood cane enter the room.  
"Mr. Wayne." Terry exclaimed with some surprise. He hadn't expected the old man to visit.

\- "Hello, Terry." Wayne said gruffly. Despite their differences, Bruce had found himself over the past few years developing a sort of attachment to the kid… He was so much like Dick – or like Bruce himself in his youth.  
"How are you feeling?" He asked tentatively, uncomfortable with this kind of small talk.

\- "I'm going a little stir-crazy, not being able to move." Terry joked. No, Bruce thought again, he was more like Dick than anything else.  
"Feeling all right, I guess." Terry continued more seriously. "Melanie came by with Mom and Matt a couple days ago, so that was nice."

Terry watched the old man for a reaction, but Bruce remained impassive. The relationship between Terry and Melanie Walker – which Bruce disapproved – had been a bone of contention between them since the beginning.  
Nothing had happened in the year since, but Bruce made no secret of his continued suspicions where she was concerned. Nonetheless, he said nothing.

"The worst part is that being stuck here means I'm getting behind in my classes. But Max'll help me get caught up once I get out of here." Terry said. "Well, that and not being able to…y'know, _work._"

\- "Unfortunately, there's not much we can do about that." Bruce said irritably, and Terry guessed correctly that the same problem had been weighing on the old man's mind. "What about…"

\- "My "uniform"?" Terry, guessing his question, interrupted. Bruce nodded curtly. "I'm…not sure. Trying to remember if I took it…I think I left it at the apartment."

\- "You don't know?" Bruce asked, a hard edge creeping into his voice.

\- "I'm sorry, I can't be sure." Terry said apologetically.

Bruce took a deep breath, trying to stop himself from getting angry. He knew, after the injuries that he had sustained, Terry was in bad shape. Disorientation, some memory loss was to be expected. But for something this important… With the capabilities of the suit, in the wrong hands it could be a terrifyingly dangerous weapon. They _had to find it._

\- "I'm trying to think…I always keep it in the same backpack." He said. "Brown one – I've had it since High School. Usually, I carry it in a storage compartment in my bike."

\- "Your bike – or what's left of it – is at the police impound." Bruce commented dryly. "I can ask Barbara to check discreetly."

\- "The police impound?" Terry asked, puzzled.

\- "The driver of the car that hit you was drunk. He was arrested by GCPD at the scene." Bruce added.

\- "Okay." Terry said slowly. "So either way, it'll be in that backpack. And the backpack can only be in two places: The bike, or else at my apartment. Max has a spare key to the apartment – I'm sure she can check."

Terry gave Bruce Max's number, and he called, frowning. The conversation was brief, and Max agreed to stop by Terry's apartment.  
"And one more thing: If it's there, _leave it there._" Bruce added warningly, and hung up.

\- "Miserable old geezer." Max grumbled, sliding her phone back in her pocket. She had entertained the notion of "borrowing" the suit while Terry was out, and Wayne made it clear he would have none of it…Then again, what he didn't know couldn't hurt him.

She arrived at Terry and Melanie's apartment soon enough, and let herself in. She found Terry's backpack – the same one he'd been using since High School. She knew this was still the backpack he used, and that it was also the backpack he kept the suit in when he wasn't out being Batman.

So she was unpleasantly surprised to find it empty. She searched the apartment carefully, but found no sign of it.  
"Damn," Max muttered, "I wonder where it is…old grumpy-ass is _not _gonna be happy."

She left the apartment, and made her way out the front of the building. That was when she saw a tall, slender silhouette approaching. She recognized the long, blonde hair. And she knew Melanie had seen her.

"Hey, Max." Melanie asked when she walked up. "What's up?"

\- "Mel! Hey, I was just lookin' for you." Max lied, thinking fast. "You heard from Terry?"

Melanie shook her head.  
\- "Not today." She said. "I saw him a couple of days ago at the hospital, and he seemed to be doing okay."

\- "Oh." Max replied. "Well, that's good to hear. Maybe I'll stop by and visit when I get the chance."

They chatted for a while longer, and Melanie said good-bye, announcing she was heading home. Max said good-bye, suggesting they catch up later, and started off.

As soon as Melanie was out of earshot, Max fished her phone out of her pocket and hit redial.

* * *

Meanwhile, Melanie returned home and dropped her bag on the floor before collapsing on the bed.  
It had been a long day, especially since she'd snuck in an early half-shift at the Kitchen before class. On the other hand, she did not have to work tonight, which was good.

"First time in a while I haven't worked a Friday night," She mused aloud to the empty room.

She slipped the suit out from where she had put it in her bag with her class stuff. She had taken to carrying it with her rather than leaving it in the apartment, because it was easier.

Mid-terms were done, and winter break meant she had two weeks without classes to worry about. She had had an early dinner with Chelsea and a couple of others, so she had the whole evening to herself.

She decided to suit up and head out, even though it was earlier than usual; she'd typically waited until well after nightfall before going out, much as Terry typically did. She drew the blinds, and then slowly put on the suit.  
As she was about to put on the cowl, she glanced at her reflection in the mirror. A thoughtful expression came into her eyes as she reminisced about the things she had done, and how much her life had changed.

She rarely thought about the old days anymore - the days when she had been Ten of the Royal Flush Gang. Sometimes, especially in the first couple of years, she had missed how much easier things had been then. They'd had more money than they knew what to do with, and she never had to worry about anything.

But then she remembered the loneliness, which had been the worst part of all.  
Her family traveled all over the place, so she never had any friends – when she did manage to make any, she inevitably lost them. And after a while, she had stopped trying. Had simply accepted that she couldn't have any friends, but just stayed the outsider.

But everything was different now. She had friends, she had her life. It wasn't an easy life, but it was _hers, _and it didn't involve stealing or moving from place to place every few she had a surrogate family of sorts in Mrs. McGinnis and Matt.

She thought of her brother, working on his own. She hadn't been to see him in a while, and decided that she should when she got the chance. Probably, she would go for a couple of days during the break.

She thought of her mother in prison, and felt a pang of sadness. Looking back, she sometimes thought that for all the things that had happened, her mother did love her, in a way. And that had made the betrayal – because it was a betrayal, what they had done – that much more painful.

Still sometimes she missed her.

She shook her head. They had been a family because they were the Royal Flush Gang. Her parents' affection extended only so far as she had been Ten of the Royal Flush Gang. That was all.  
And that life was over now.

Now, she wasn't stealing anymore; she was helping to make a difference – the way Terry did.  
Why did she do it? She sometimes asked herself that in the past few days.

The biggest reason was that it was important to Terry, and he could not do it. So she did it in his stead. Because she knew why he did it; there are things he wanted to protect. And because she loved him, she would protect them for him. In a way, she was protecting him, too.

And maybe, to make up for what she had done. To prove once and for all that she really had changed, that she was no longer a thief.  
She knew with absolute certainty that she would never go back to that life again, because to do so would mean betraying Terry. And she could never do that.  
Besides, had an honest job, and she was happier living with him.

She turned away from the mirror and slid the cowl over her face, securing it at the neck.  
In the past few days, she had experimented with the suit until she figured out most of its key functions, including its flight systems and a number of others. Including the suit's cloaking systems, which she activated before slipping out of the window, closing it behind her. Then she slipped away from the campus.

The sun had set, and twilight lay over Gotham City. Once she was far enough, she disengaged the suit's camouflage and engaged its flight systems. Then, propelled by the thrusters in its boots, the wings unfurled to their full size, she took off into the night.

* * *

In Terry's hospital room, Bruce waited anxiously, until his phone rang.

"This is Wayne." He said sharply.

From his hospital bed, Terry glanced, and he felt a lead weight in his stomach when he saw the old man turn pale. He knew the news was bad.

The old man hung up the phone and pocketed it.  
"The suit is not in your apartment, Terry." He said, and his voice was shaking with fear and barely restrained anger.

The blood drained from Terry's face, and he looked horrified. The suit was _missing.  
_\- "Damn it." He swore loudly. "Stupid, careless…I'm sorry, Mr. Wayne. This is all my fault."

Bruce thought about what Terry had said – it may be with his bike, but he doubted it. It was stupid and careless to leave the suit anywhere, a mistake he never would have made.

\- "The suit has a tracking device built into it, which can be traced from the computer." He reminded Terry. "And if necessary, there is still the kill switch. We can disable the suit if we have to."  
It was the only hope they had. He would have to get on it immediately, as soon as he got home. He would find the suit, and he would get it back. And he would just have to see what happened after that.

\- "I'm sorry, sir." Terry said again. "I just wish there was something I could do to fix this."

\- "Right now, there isn't." Bruce said, a little more sharply than he'd intended. "I'll get this dealt with."

Bruce pulled an old-fashioned gold pocket watch from his pocket and checked the time.  
He was almost late.  
"I have to leave – I have an important appointment to keep." Bruce said flatly.

Terry nodded. He knew exactly what appointment that was.

"I will get this dealt with when I get home." Bruce said, and turned to leave. The door closed behind him, and Terry stared glumly at it for a while, before lying back down.  
After this, he wouldn't be surprised if the old man fired him. He just hoped he didn't.

Bruce made his way back down to the parking lot, until he reached his car.  
He opened the door and with some difficulty sat himself in the driver's seat. He didn't often drive himself anymore – usually Terry did. Even for these appointments.  
But in this case he had no choice.

He still couldn't _believe _how careless Terry had been; to let that suit out of his sight even for a second, even though he _knew _what it was capable of.

Reluctantly, he laid aside, for now, his concerns about just what had happened to the Batsuit.

For now, he had something more important to attend to, but he remained could not help but dwell on it even as he pulled out of the hospital parking lot. As soon as he got home, he would track the suit. Depending on what that told him, he would decide what the next step would be, and he would get it back.

He turned onto the 10 and headed back into the heart of the city, towards Old Gotham's Historical District.


	6. 06: Park Row

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Okay, finally some action!

* * *

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 6**

The weathered sign at the corner still read "Park Row", but nobody used that name anymore. Precious few people in Gotham City knew that the narrow alleyway, located in Gotham's historical district, even still existed.  
Decades after the event, books still talked about the Park Row Tragedy, but other than that, those few who still knew of its existence usually called it Crime Alley.  
For decades, what had once been one of the most upscale and sought-after strips of real estate in Gotham had instead been the home of the poor, the desperate, the destitute...and those criminals who plied their trade on the streets of the lowest levels of the city; drug dealers, pimps, assorted gangs. Even in the wake of the severe crackdown by GCPD in recent years, Crime Alley remained, as the press had once called it, a breeding ground for crime.

And yet, when a long, low-slung dark blue limousine turned the corner and swept down the street, barely anyone gave it a second glance. Most of them had more important things on their mind, and many of the oldest recognized the vehicle. It was a familiar sight - every year on this date, at roughly the same time, the sleek vehicle or one very like it slid into the alley. It never stayed long, and most people knew to give the vehicle - and its owner - a wide berth.

Behind the steering wheel of the dark luxury vehicle, Bruce Wayne sat in contemplative silence, thinking of how much his life had changed in the decades since that terrible night, nearly eighty years earlier, when his childhood had ended.

He thought of Dr. Leslie Thompkins, an old friend of his late father's, and the one who had comforted the orphaned Bruce after the murder of his parents. He had been eight years old.  
Leslie was long since deceased now, as was the family's butler, the eternally unflappable ex-British Intelligence operative Alfred Pennyworth. Both of them were buried in the same cemetery as Thomas and Martha Wayne, in an affluent area outside of the city proper.

But for Bruce, this narrow, dingy alleyway was far more important, symbolically. It had been right here, after all, that his innocence was stolen along with his parents' lives by some punk with a gun. It was right here, he reflected darkly, that what would become Batman was born.  
He shook his head, dismissing those grim recollections, and checked his watch.

8:00 PM. Time to go. He opened the door, picking up as he did the long, slender cardboard box on the passenger-side seat.

He clambered out, then retrieved his cane and closed the door, limping around the car until he reached the exact spot. He opened the box, and withdrew two white roses. Then he knelt with some difficulty, placing the two flowers on the ground.

He stayed there for a few moments in solitary silence. Then he stood, and turned back towards the car.

That was when he saw two young men amble into the alley, blocking his path. One was unarmed, the other carried a short, heavy club. There were greedy looks on their painted faces, and their outfits were in painfully garish colors - Jokerz.  
He clocked at least six more slowly approaching, all variously armed.

"That's a pretty schway set of wheels, old man." The leader, a tall kid wearing a purple jacket, his green-dyed hair tied back in a ponytail. "Hand over the keys."

\- "No." Bruce replied simply, tightening his grip on his cane.

\- "I don't think you understand, pops." The tall leader said again. "I wasn't asking."

\- "This is our turf, gramps." the shorter one with the club said, hefting his weapon in a gesture intended to intimidate. "You gonna come through here, you gotta pay the toll. Otherwise…"

Bruce did not give the punk a chance to finish his sentence, but lashed out with his cane, slamming it across the kid's tibias.  
The kid jumped with a cry of pain, and a second blow struck him in the face. He crumpled to the ground, the club falling from his hands to the pavement with a vibrant, metallic clang.

\- "Why you old..." the taller one cried out, but the handle of the cane struck his larynx, cutting off the flow of air into his lungs, and then Bruce Wayne grabbed the punk by the collar and threw him across the alley. He hit the wall hard, and fell unconscious.

The others closed in, and Bruce steeled himself, stepping back to put the near alley wall to his back, preventing them from surrounding him.  
Another look around confirmed his earlier count. There were six of them.  
One was a thinner kid wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, dirty-blonde hair peeking from under the rim of the hat he wore. He had on a mask rather than face paint, and was armed with a club similar to that of the first Joker he'd dropped.  
The kid hefted his weapon and swung towards the old man's face.

Bruce parried the blow with his cane, then swung the cane and drove it into his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. A second hit to the side of the head knocked him down.

That was when he felt sudden pain in his chest. His breath was short. He felt light-headed, nauseous.  
He fell to his knees.  
'_NO! Not now!' _He mentally screamed as his weak heart got the better of him.

"Say good night, gramps." He dimly heard someone say. The kid with the mask pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans and aimed it straight at Bruce's head.

He was going to die - in the same alley where his parents were murdered. At the hands of some punk with a gun…

A shadow flitted past overhead, and one of the Jokerz looked around.  
"What was that?" He asked.

There was a sudden flash of metal, a cry of pain, and a metallic clatter as the gun fell to the ground, an explosion as it discharged, the single bullet missing one of the gangsters by millimeters before lodging itself in the wall.

Bruce looked up, and dimly, saw the gun where it had fallen on the ground. And a foot or two away, a slender, black object. Flat, curved. He recognized the distinctive shape: It was a batarang.

_How?..._

He heard a voice. Young. a woman's voice.  
"Eight of you dregs against one old man? That seems a bit excessive. Well, only six now." The tone was taunting, a familiar mocking edge to it…the voice. It seemed…he'd heard it before, but couldn't place it.  
Something dropped from above onto the shoulders of the masked kid who cradled his bleeding hand, sliced open by the batarang. Driven to the ground, he was knocked unconscious by the impact.  
"And now, it's five."

Taking advantage of the respite, Bruce reached into his coat pocket for his heart medication.  
Since the first time he'd met Terry, he always carried it with him. he had difficulty opening the bottle, but he managed it. He dry-swallowed the pills, and looked up through a haze of pain.

When he realized what he was seeing, his jaw dropped.

Five Jokerz stood in a row in front of him. Between him and the gang was a young woman wearing a black, one-piece reinforced bodysuit, with a full-face mask. A batsuit.  
No. _THE _Batsuit - Terry's, the one that was missing since his accident.

\- "Who're you supposed to be," the kid with the mask spat, "Batgirl or something?"

\- "Something like that." Came the reply, sounding amused and, at the same time, eager. Then she lashed out, kicking him in the stomach, then following it with a lightning-fast jab to the face that dropped him.

One of the four left - a big guy wearing a vest and a pair of brass knuckles on his hands - rushed her, and she parried one, then a second punch, almost effortlessly, then retaliated with a vicious left-booted dragon kick that slammed into the big guy's gut, staggering him.  
Before he recovered she followed up with a second attack, sweeping his legs out from under him, then putting him down with another solid kick to the side of the head.

Two of the remaining three moved in at roughly the same time, engaging her directly, attempting to force her on the defensive. One was empty-handed, the other held a length of steel pipe in one hand.

She moved with a dancer's grace, and in a back corner of his mind, Bruce Wayne noted that she had clearly been well-trained in martial arts. She dodged the two clowns' attacks with surprising ease considering there were two of them, jumped nimbly over them, then as they turned around, she kicked one of them hard, and he fell into his buddy, dropping the pipe to the floor.

Thrown off-balance, it took them a couple of seconds to get themselves together, by which time she was on them, dispatching one with a gut punch followed by a vicious uppercut.

The other tried to kick her, and she side-stepped the attack, spun, and countered with a kick of her own, hard and fast, which took him in the side, slamming him into the alley wall.

The ponytail-wearing leader stood groggily, and picked up the length of pipe off the ground, while his remaining accomplice drew a short knuckle knife.

The leader came first, swinging the pipe at her like a baseball bat. She caught it one-handed, then counter-attacked instantly with a lightning-fast jab to the solar plexus. He bent over double, his hand releasing the pipe, just as she followed up, her knee slamming into his face.  
They all heard the audible crack as the punk's nose broke, and he screamed in pain.

The one with the knife charged, but she side-stepped the attack, and brought the pipe down on his wrist, hard. He too yelled in pain, dropping the knife. She reversed the pipe and swung again, but the kid jumped back, avoiding the blow by centimeters.

Stopping to help his leader, he glared back at the black-clad assailant, before the two thugs fled.  
The others lay on the ground where they'd fallen.

She twirled the length of pipe like a baton before tossing it to the ground. Then she turned around, helping Bruce to his feet. Satisfied that the old man would be all right, she turned around again to leave.

"WAIT!" Bruce said loudly. She heard the command in his tone, and turned towards him, a strange expression on her face.

\- "You're welcome." She said sarcastically. He ignored it. Again he felt that there was something oddly familiar about her, but he still could not quite put his finger on what it was.

\- "Who are you, and how did you get that suit?" He demanded. For a moment, she did not answer.

Then she flashed a sardonic smile.  
\- "You're the world's greatest detective," she taunted, "Why don't you figure it out?"

A second later she was gone, leaving Bruce Wayne standing alone in the alley where his parents were murdered, a strange expression on his face.

He turned and headed back towards his car, grappling with a sense of déjà-vu he could not quite explain. Gradually, a dim recollection returned to him, an encounter from many, many years earlier.

Kathy Duquesne, Rocky Ballantine, Sonia Alcana. Three women who, many years earlier, had assumed the mantle of "Batwoman" in a shared vendetta against Rupert Thorne.  
The first confrontation with one of them - to this day, he was still not sure which of the three - had ended when she had uttered almost the exact same words.

"At least this time, she didn't take a swing at me." He mumbled, remembering how the young woman had attacked him before eventually flying off.

He sat in the driver's seat of his car and closed the door, when the implications of the statement struck him.  
Whoever that was wearing Terry's suit, _she knew who he was - who he had been._

The confrontation with Batwoman had been with _Batman_, _not Bruce Wayne._ Moreover, the phrase "the world's greatest detective" had been a favorite of the press to describe Batman, in the old days.  
There was NOTHING in the life of Bruce Wayne, socialite, billionaire playboy, to suggest he even knew the first thing about investigative work. Thus there was no reason for anyone to address Bruce Wayne in that way. Unless they also happened to know that Bruce Wayne had once been Batman himself.

And the list of people who knew that was _extremely_ short.

He started the engine, and the big, dark-blue limousine rolled smoothly forward as he drove himself back to the Manor.

In his youth, Bruce had been an avid bibliophile and, together with Alfred, had begun a hobby of collecting first edition books. It was a hobby that had continued for many years, and an entire wall of the library in the east wing of the big mansion was dedicated to a collection of first-editions worth a small fortune - not that he would ever sell them. But a particular favorite of his had been the works of British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and a phrase occurred to him from one of those books.

"When you have eliminated the impossible," he quoted to himself, "whatever remains, however improbable, _must be the truth_."

He mentally summed up the facts as he knew them, and drew the following conclusions:

1\. The thief was a young woman who, by his assessment based on height, build, and other physical characteristics, was between the ages of 17 and 21.  
2\. She was a skilled fighter with apparently extensive hand-to-hand combat training, both armed and unarmed.  
3\. She had to have been someone who was able to get into Terry's apartment without arousing suspicion, and that very recently.  
4\. Most importantly, she knew that Bruce Wayne had been Batman.

By the time he arrived at the gates of Wayne Manor and started up the quarter-mile-long driveway, he had considered and eliminated the few possibilities that occurred to him.

Except one.


	7. 07: Confrontation

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 7**

"Is everyone ready?" He asked, looking around at the others. Each of the four of them now wore the uniform that identified them, as did he, as their leader.

It had been years since he saw such a sight, and felt a surge of pride at what they - what _he _had accomplished. Each had his own weapon. They _were _ready.

"Good. We've gone over the plan," he said. "Stick to it, and everything will be fine." He said.

Tonight would be only their first sortie into Gotham. There would be more…and in other cities beside.

The five of them boarded their transportation and slipped noiselessly out into the night. Their target was determined, the plan laid. If all went well, within two hours they would have their prize and be back here before Gotham's Finest even had a clue what was happening.

"But remember - if the Batman shows, I will deal with him _personally._" He added, a dangerous tone in his voice. "We have a great deal of unfinished business to settle, he and I…three or four years' worth, at the very least."

* * *

From the pinnacle of the highest building in the historical district, Melanie Walker watched the old man limp back towards his car and drive off.

She had no doubt Wayne would figure out who she was, probably very quickly.

She was equally certain that the old man would have some means of either seizing control of the suit, or else disabling it entirely by remote.

With enough time and a careful look at the suit's circuitry, she could probably find and possibly disable the receiver. Right now, she had neither, which meant the better option was to find and disable the transmitter at the source. And she had a pretty good exactly where that would be.

She guessed that was now the old man's destination.

Melanie had studied maps of Gotham, so she knew the roads reasonably well. And she knew that she could take a more direct route by air, cutting across rooftops and avoiding the maze of roads that made up Old Gotham and this area of downtown. She could get there first.

"I suppose this had to happen sooner or later. I guess sooner works." She mused.  
As she took off, her mind returned to the exhilaration of the confrontation between herself and the six Jokerz she'd just taken on.

One of them had referred to her as Batgirl.

When she decided to take up the mantle in Terry's place, she hadn't given any thought to that. Obviously, she wasn't Bat_man_, as she was a woman.

She didn't know much about Batman - the _first _Batman. It had been before she was born, and her upbringing was not of the sort that exposed her to the kinds of stories most kids her age had grown up hearing about Gotham's former protector.

All she really knew was that in the days when her grandfather - her mother's father - was King of the Royal Flush Gang, they had come up against Batman and been defeated, breaking up the gang until its recreation under the leadership of her mother and his husband - both former members of the Gang themselves. And dear old Dad had a chip on his shoulder about that. But it was a different time now, and a different Batman.

She did also know, however, that Batman had not been alone - he'd had partners, and one of them had been a woman. She supposed using "girl" to describe someone of her age was odd, but "Bat_woman_" just didn't have quite the same flair, she thought.

"I'm Batgirl…" she said tentatively. She liked how it sounded.  
_'Batman and Batgirl…I kinda like the sound of that.'_ She thought with a smile. _'I wonder what Terry'll think…'_

As for Wayne, she didn't have to wonder how _he'd _react. The paranoid old man would probably have another heart attack at the merest suggestion that she and Terry work together.

Soon, she neared her destination. And thanks to the suit's sensors, she quickly found exactly what she was looking for…

* * *

Bruce Wayne parked his car in the cavernous, empty garage and entered the house, heading straight for the great, high-ceilinged drawing room. He inspected his cane, and grunted when he found a hairline fracture on it.  
Damn, now he'd have to fix that, too.

He was surprised to find Ace sitting quietly in the drawing room, apparently waiting for him. But he had more pressing things on his mind at the moment.

He stopped in front of the elegant grandfather clock that concealed the entrance to the Batcave, and opened the hidden door before slowly making his way down the narrow staircase that led to his dark domain.  
The lights were turned off, so he flipped the switches that would turn them on, and then stepped into the cave proper. Ace followed behind him, his ears up and facing forward, his head darting from side to side. He moved deeper into the cave with long, loping strides.

Bruce paid little heed to the dog's behaviour, but made a beeline for the massive computer, which lay dormant. He turned it on, then immediately pulled up a tracking program that continuously monitored the Batsuit. Once he launched the program, it would take a few minutes to locate the suit, but once it had he would be able to disable it if necessary.

He grumbled silently that he should have done this days ago, but with Terry unconscious, the disappearance of the suit had remained unknown to him until now.

However, that would not last long.  
"Let's see where you're hiding now..." He growled under his breath as he launched the program.

\- "You won't have to look far." said a clear voice from somewhere behind him, and he started.

He turned around, alert eyes scanning the cave, and that was when he saw her standing in the shadows. The kill switch that would disable the suit was almost within reach. If he could just flip the cover and…

At that instant, he barely heard a faint whistle and metal flashed in the dim light of the Cave.  
Missing his hand by millimeters, the batarang lodged itself firmly in the computer's console, destroying the control circuit for the switch.

Then she took a few steps forward, and the harsh fluorescent lights illuminated her silhouette. She stopped about about ten feet away.

\- "Theft, Breaking and Entering." Wayne commented flatly, a hard edge in his voice. "For someone who has allegedly reformed herself, you certainly seem to be keeping some strange habits, Ms. Walker."

She pulled off the cowl, revealing a pale, slender face, long blonde hair that, freed from the cowl, cascaded down her back, and piercing blue eyes. She said nothing, as of yet.

Ace barked, loping over to where she stood, tail wagging. She reached down and petted the big dog. Irritated, Bruce called the dog, who padded off back towards him and sat down, with a low whine.  
"I want that suit back. And I want it _immediately._" He demanded.

Melanie did not immediately reply. She crossed her arms, still glaring at Wayne. When she did speak, her response was succinct.

\- "No."

The brevity of the response, as much as the unequivocal refusal, angered an already irritated Wayne. He gripped his cane a little harder, his knuckles whitening.

\- "That suit is NOT yours." He said, his voice shaking with repressed anger.

\- "No, it's not." She said briefly, the admission momentarily surprising the old man And then, she continued to speak. "The suit is Terry's, and I'll give it back to him, once he recovers. Until then, I'm keeping it."

\- "You had _no right _to take it!" Wayne exclaimed, his voice rising as his control started to slip. "That suit is _my_ property, and I want it back, _NOW_!"

\- "No." She said again. "Terry is Batman now, Mr. Wayne. And I will give the suit back to _him_. Once he's able to wear it again."

From anyone else, and in any other circumstances, Bruce would have been impressed at such resolve. But right now, it just infuriated him.  
\- "I'm warning you…" Wayne started to say.

For a moment, Melanie almost laughed, but she didn't.  
\- "What are _you _going to do with it?" She challenged. "You're not going to wear it, I know that much. You _can't - _not anymore. I may not be a doctor, but I know a heart attack when I see one."

\- "That is _none of your concern." _Wayne growled. "But if you think I'm going to leave that suit in the hands of a convicted criminal…"

She scoffed.  
"You're just like my father. You're so convinced of your own superiority, that you're the only one that knows what's right, that you refuse to consider the possibility that you might be wrong." She spat, her full lips curled in a derisive sneer. "Well let me tell you something, Mr. Wayne: You _are _wrong. Because anything that concerns Terry _also _concerns me."

"I _know _what I've done." Melanie continued to say. "But guess what: _Things change. People change._"  
The words were uncomfortably familiar to Wayne. He'd heard Terry say something similar the last time they had argued, when he told him what he had done - that he had told _her _about it.  
And then, even longer ago…

Her expression changed, the contempt disappearing.  
_"_Terry changed, and so did I." She continued. "You might be in denial, but Terry knows that. He trusts me, and I trust him. I _love _him. And if you think for one second that I would _ever_ do anything that would put him at risk, then you're an old fool."

She stepped closer, until she stood less than four feet away from him.  
"And here's something else you seem to be forgetting: If you really were right about me, do you honestly think I would have gone through the effort to save your life?" She asked.

Melanie, like most anybody in Gotham, knew Bruce Wayne's story, and she knew exactly why he had been in a dingy alley in the Historical District on that particular night. And she used that leverage to her advantage.  
"No - I would have done nothing, and you would be dead." She said flatly. "Imagine that: The great Bruce Wayne, lying dead in an alley because of some punk with a gun."

She took a chance by using what she knew, and she knew it was a low blow.  
But it worked. The tension ebbed from Wayne's body, and his shoulders slumped. He sat down heavily in the deep, comfortable armchair.

As much as he hated to admit it, the girl was right. If not for her intervention that evening, he would be dead - in the exact same place his parents had died, and in much the same way. It was, he guessed, sheer coincidence that had led her to be there at that precise moment. But she had acted, and whatever else could be said, he owed this girl his life.

Then there was the fact that by coming here, she had sought this confrontation. Still, he didn't want to trust her, at least not completely. But what choice did he have?

Before he could make up his mind, a sharp electronic beep sounded, and an alert screen popped up on his computer. A silent alarm had been tripped, and almost immediately silenced. Which meant one of two things:

1\. An alarm had been triggered by accident, and then turned back off - not likely.  
2\. A break-in was in progress, and the one responsible had made a mistake. In this town, much more likely.

He saw the location: Chesterfield's, a high-end jeweler in one of the uptown districts, which dealt primarily in very high-quality gemstones. Chesterfield's had recently acquired some especially valuable pieces, including the Vonalster Fabergé Egg and the almost equally valuable Broken Heart Diamond.

\- "All right, Ms. Walker." Wayne grumbled reluctantly. "I will give you ONE chance to prove me wrong. But you _will_ follow my instructions."

\- "Of course." She commented, and then pulled the cowl back over her head. Bruce couldn't help but notice the edge of sarcasm in her tone, but he was too tired to do anything about it.

\- "Take the car." He said, and at the touch of a button on the computer console a ceiling-mounted spotlight engaged, illuminating the sleek, aerodynamic black vehicle. "It'll get you there much faster."

\- "Very nice." She said slowly, glancing appreciatively at the car, which even at a standstill looked like it was flying. The canopy slid open, and she nimbly vaulted in. The canopy slid shut, and soon the car came alive, taking off and turning before it shot off.

Not quite so fast as Terry usually drove it, but still uncomfortably fast in his view.

Quite apart from the car's speed, which was still exponentially higher than the suit even with its upgrades, Bruce had an ulterior motive for wanting the girl to take it. While she had disabled the kill switch for the suit, Bruce still had the ability to, from the computer, take manual control of the car's systems, overriding the vehicle's internal control and commands from the suit. Which would leave her stuck inside the vehicle.

A window on his screen showed her location in real time, moving fast towards her destination. As he watched, he found himself wondering whether he might have just made the second most serious mistake of his life.

He stood for a moment, and wondered whether or not he was making the biggest mistake of his life. He hoped not.

But he limped to the workbench and grabbed a small toolbox, then sat down at the console and removed the batarang that was lodged in it. And he got to work, using the time it would take for her to reach her target to replace the damaged control circuitry of the kill switch.

...Just in case.


	8. 08: Royal Flush

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I do apologize for how long it took to get this next chapter up and running, but personal circumstances led to a severe decline in inspiration as well as time to write. Hopefully, I can get back on track from now on.

* * *

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 8**

It didn't take very long for the Batmobile to arrive above the target building - a tall shopping center that housed, among others, Chesterfield's fine jewelry store.  
She abandoned the car around the corner in case the bad guys had posted a lookout, and made a cloaked transit using the suit's flight systems to cover the last couple of blocks.

She knew exactly what to look for as she arrived, stowing the wings and deactivating the suit's stealth systems as she alighted on the roof. Within seconds, she spotted an open panel, and cut wiring. She saw that the primary and secondary alarm circuits had been cut - the primary first, then the secondary after the cut in the primary triggered the silent alarm, which had disengaged when the secondary circuit was cut.

She also noticed that the fiber optic and power lines for the building's security cameras had been cut, meaning there would be no active vid feeds inside the building.  
They'd been thorough. Still, the work was sloppy, amateurish. She was almost disappointed.

"If that had been me," she commented to herself with a professional's disdain for inferior work, "the alarm would never have been tripped."  
A second later she shook her head, surprised at herself for feeling that way, given that it was a life she had left behind years earlier.

Then she almost jumped as a harsh male voice growled in her ear.  
\- "That's nothing to boast about."

She bit back a curse. Wayne - she'd forgotten that the paranoid old man would be listening. She'd have to remember that from now on.  
\- "Who's boasting?" She hissed in response. "I'm just making an observation. Besides, if they _hadn't _been so sloppy - if they had been as good as I used to be, then you wouldn't have known about that break-in until tomorrow morning's news."

Wayne grunted, unwilling to concede the point.  
Melanie, however, had located the point of entry the criminal or criminals had used: One of a row of a dozen flat windows, approximately eight feet square, which formed an enormous skylight on the roof, allowing in what sunlight could enter during the day.

The nearest one to where she stood had been literally ripped off its hinges and tossed aside, the inch-thick safety glass cracked, but not shattered.  
It would have taken enormous physical strength to do that. Far greater strength than any ordinary crook possessed. But that's not what bothered her at that moment - she knew that the suit granted her significantly augmented strength, and could hold her own in a fight.

No, what bothered her at that moment was that she had seen something very similar before…  
"I've got a bad feeling about this…" She muttered, as she too slipped in.

* * *

Inside the store, the gang stood in the main showroom, while their leader dispassionately surveyed the corpses of two security guards who had entered the store, weapons drawn.

It had almost spelled the end of their affair, as the two guards had been in a position to cover almost the entire gang. Wyatt, their newest recruit, had turned it all around, slipping behind one of the guards unseen and stabbing him in the back.  
When the second had turned towards his colleague, he had himself used the opportunity Wyatt had created to finish off the hapless guard with a fatal electrical discharge from his own weapon.

Frowning, he rounded on the slightest and youngest member of the group.

"Dregs, Ten!" He snarled, "We've been over this plan for _days_, and you almost ruined everything! If you'd paid attention, the guards would never have known we were here, and we would be gone by now!"

\- "I'm sorry," she said, "I…"

\- "Almost failed the family." King interrupted harshly.

\- "I'm sorry. It won't happen again." She said.

\- "See that it doesn't. Otherwise…" He let the threat hang unspoken. In the corner, the hulking figure of Ace shifted, but nobody moved. Nobody spoke. They all knew the stakes, and the consequences of failure.

"Now then," Robert Alexander Walker, the King of the new Royal Flush Gang, glanced up at where he knew the vault was located, where their real prize waited: The Broken Heart Diamond, a nearly-flawless gemstone of enormous size, perfectly cut. Absolutely priceless.

"Ace? Open the door, please." He said.

Ace nodded silently, then stepped forward. They could have asked Ten to open the vault, but after her earlier blunder, time was of the essence. They had to collect their prize and get out fast - it would be too much to hope that GCPD had not noticed the brief silent alarm, and he expected that cruisers were on the way even as they stood there.

The stupendously strong Ace tore the vault door open. King stepped forward into the vault, a light in hand, and immediately found his prize.

"Exquisite." He commented as he seized the gemstone and placed it in a pouch secured to his waist.

At his side, Queen entered, and saw a second piece, even more magnificent. She gasped audibly.  
\- "And it looks like we may have struck an even greater prize that we hoped, dear." She said.

He turned, and instantly he knew what he was looking at. It was a famous piece.  
\- "Ah yes, the Vonalster Fabergé egg. A piece of inestimable value, and with quite a bit of history too - it is said that Oswald Cobblepot himself once attempted to steal this piece, unsuccessfully. And others beside, too."

\- "And now," Queen said with a self-satisfied smile, as she took the Egg and placed it in a second pouch, which she secured at her belt. "it too is ours."

Meanwhile in the store, Jack grinned as he shattered the nearest display case and started filling a bag he had carried for that express purpose with everything he could find.  
Across the room, Ten did the same.

"Payday, big time." Jack - Wyatt - said, a greedy expression on his face - unaware that he and the others were being watched.

_'Damn it...I don't BELIEVE THIS.' _Melanie silently screamed as she recognized what she was seeing: The Royal Flush Gang, the very same gang to which she had belonged until not so long ago.  
It was like looking into a twisted mirror, as she glared at the new "Ten", whom she guessed was probably a girl her age, if not younger. The gigantic Ace, and even, she observed with a pang, Jack.  
She guessed that King and Queen, who were probably in the vault, would be her parents as well. Clearly, they had replaced her and Jack, unless that was him.  
She hoped with all her heart that it wasn't her brother.

"Wayne," she whispered, "you're not going to believe this: The Royal Flush Gang are the ones casing the jeweler."

Bruce did the slightest of double-takes as he heard this; he had not expected to hear _that - _but on reflection he wasn't surprised.  
"They must be after the Broken Heart Diamond." He stated.

\- "Probably." Melanie assented. "It sounds like the kind of thing Dad would go for." The bitterness in her tone was apparent to Wayne. "Well, time to greet my replacement." She added, then struck.

At the instant King and Queen stepped out of the vault, there was a harsh bang and the entire store erupted into blinding light. King swore, his hands flying to shield his eyes, but too late.  
The next second he heard a grunt, the sounds of a struggle. By the time his eyesight started to return Ace was down, struggling against the strong lines that bound his arms and legs.

In the midst of the room, a slender, black shadow. At first, he felt a fierce eagerness as he assumed that his chance for revenge on the Batman was come. Then he saw that the newcomer was...

"A girl?" He exclaimed with some surprise, frowning. "I was expecting the Batman, not some strumpet playing dress-up. Ten - deal with this pretender."

"Gladly." Ten replied, and dropping her bag, she vaulted over the counter and landed gracefully a short distance from Batgirl, immediately going on the offensive.  
Melanie parried the first blow with relative ease, but her opponent disengaged and stepped back before she was able to counterattack.

_'She's pretty good.' _Melanie thought as she felt her heart rate climb, adrenaline pumping. Her opponent struck again, a right-legged dragon kick that Melanie narrowly avoided. This time, she counterattacked with a vicious jab that caught her opponent off-guard, slamming into her face.  
Ten struck again, a fast, hard punch which Melanie blocked. She blocked a second punch, then unleashed another jab straight to the other's face, staggering her.

And this time Melanie took the opening, unleashing a lightning-fast, left-leg dragon kick of her own, which struck hard, sending Ten barreling off her feet and slamming into a support column.  
She groaned in pain and lost consciousness, sinking to the ground.  
_'But not good enough.' _Melanie thought. She wondered briefly where her father had found this kid, but soon moved on - she had other concerns.

Ace was struggling against the bonds that held him, and she guessed they wouldn't hold all that much longer. She was actually surprised they'd held as long as they had.  
The more pressing concern was Jack, who attacked next, and she barely managed to activate the suit's electromagnetic shields in time to deflect three thrown daggers, which were cast aside when they struck the barrier.

She deactivated the shields and once again leapt into action, nimbly jumping over the next knife. A pair of thrown batarangs knocked two knives from Jack's hand, and her two feet slammed into his torso, throwing him back.

He was on his feet in moments, and this time he charged, a dagger in each hand. The three spikes on the back of her forearms extended into cruelly sharp blades, which she used to parry Jack's first strike, and then she wrapped a hand around his wrist and applied pressure, forcing him to release the second.

He head butted her, and she saw stars for a split second as Jack broke away, but thankfully the cowl's insulation, while far thinner than that of the suit itself, mitigated much of the damage.  
He tried to stab her in the stomach, but she turned, and the blow was a glancing one, barely scoring the suit's outer layer.  
This time she retaliated by head-butting him, and followed it up with a sucker punch to the stomach that doubled him over.

Before he could recover, she slipped around and slammed her fist into the right side of his head, just behind the ear.  
He crumpled.

"Two down." She spat, glaring at the two that remained standing, mindful of the stupendously strong Ace, still struggling against his bonds in the corner.

King shook his head, disappointed at the less than impressive performance of his two most junior accomplices. And, begrudgingly, impressed at the speed and skill of this pretender.  
"I will admit you have some skill, for some little girl playing at Batman."

She tossed three boomerangs at him in response. The first two were decoys, the third aimed at the pouch on his belt. It was a simple ploy, but sometimes the simple ploys worked.  
It almost did, as while he deflected two, the third sliced into the pouch at his belt.  
However, King caught the enormous gemstone before it could fall, and attempted to counterattack with an electrical blast discharged from the blade of his sword.  
Melanie dodged the attack easily.

"The name's Batgirl." She spat in response.

That was when Queen struck, from the side. Melanie felt the impact of the staff she carried, as a massive electrical discharge coursed through the suit.  
In any other circumstances, Melanie would have been severely injured by the electrical shock, if not killed. However, due to the improvements made to the suit a year earlier, it was completely hardened against electrical attacks.  
Melanie felt the discharge, but it did not hurt as much as Queen expected it would.

_'Well, how about that?' _Melanie thought, repressing a grin even as she counterattacked. The first thing she did was to grab ahold of the staff, and literally tear it from Queen's grasp.

Queen gasped at the sudden reversal of fortune, and the next second Melanie slammed the spherical head of the staff into her face. As Queen rose to her feet, glaring at her young opponent, Melanie took the staff in both hands, and snapped it in half.

She saw, out of the corner of her eye, her father move to try to attack from behind, and tossed a batarang his way that sliced into his hand, eliciting a cry of pain as he dropped his weapon.  
Then Queen moved in and struck, a viciously fast jab aimed at her face, which she narrowly avoided, countering with a fast blow to the collarbone.

Queen pulled back, then spun and unleashed a lightning-fast kick that Melanie only narrowly avoided by leaping over it, landing with a dancer's grace on her feet behind Queen and cutting loose with a hard kick that connected with her lower back, sending her tumbling forward.  
Queen rolled adroitly and came back up on her feet, and this time Melanie struck first. Queen, however, caught her first, then second punch, and then surprised Melanie with a vicious punch to the face, followed by a hard kick that doubled her over.  
Before Melanie could break away to make her next move, Queen brought her joint fists down onto the back of Melanie's head with every ounce of strength she could, and Melanie slammed into the ground hard, grunting with pain, which was made worse when Queen kicked her in the ribs while she was still down.

Dimly, she heard the snap of lines that meant Ace had broken free.  
"That will do, darling." She heard her father's voice.  
Queen looking down at her with cold contempt, shrugged and turned her back on her, as the massive Ace made his way to the unconscious bodies of Jack and Ten and hoisted them both over his shoulders. King and Queen gathered up the fallen bags, and the gang slipped out to make their exit.

Standing atop the large, rectangular hover boards they always used - patterned like playing cards from the suit of Spades - the five members of the Royal Flush Gang - King, Queen, and Ace carrying Ten and Jack - rose through the skylight, when spotlights came on, illuminating them.

"This is the Gotham City Police Department. Put down your weapons now and surrender - you are completely surrounded."

Six GCPD hover cruisers encircled the building at their altitude, and they saw weapons aimed at them.

\- "I don't think so." King commented cruelly, as he raised his weapon and fired an electrical discharge at the nearest cruiser that completely fried its control systems, sending it plummeting towards the rooftop, even as he used the distraction to make his getaway, closely followed by Queen and Ace.

Two cruisers peeled off to pursue, while the others focused on attempting to stop the fall of the cruiser and rescuing their comrades. With luck, they'd be able to catch them.

"Mierda." Detective Lieutenant Miguel Alcana swore in his native Spanish, which he usually did when he was especially angry or upset.  
One cruiser shot down, two officers injured. On top of that, the Royal Flush Gang was back in town, which meant they were dealing with a burglary, and he had a pretty good idea where they'd hit.  
There'd been a brief alert when a silent alarm was tripped in the building. On the off chance, Alcana sent a cruiser to have a look.  
When the officer driving the cruiser, an officer he'd met once or twice named Montoya, saw the skylight, she'd called for back-up, and Alcana himself had led the raid.

"Talk about a fuck-up." He grumbled. "Montoya, with me. Let's go down and see what we're dealing with."

Inside Chesterfield's Melanie dragged herself to her feet and made to pursue.  
Wayne shot her down instantly.  
"You're in no condition to go after them, and GCPD has units pursuing. Get back to the car, and get back here _now."_

_\- _"Fine." She spat dejectedly. She engaged the suit's cloaking and flight systems, and slipped out.  
Seconds later, she saw GCPD offices, one of whom she recognized as the one who'd given her a lift to the hospital on the day of Terry's accident.  
She slowly made her way to a window rather than exiting through the skylight, and disappeared.

Later that night, she slipped back into her apartment, still wearing the suit, and stripped it off.  
They'd checked over her injuries at the cave, and finding nothing broken, Wayne had dismissed her. She slipped out still wearing the suit - and now she was home.  
Still groaning, she slipped into bed and sank into a deep sleep despite her own troubled thoughts...


	9. 09: Aftermath, Part 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **BACK FROM THE DEAD!

Seriously, sorry about the long absence - school, work, writer's block, and a few other things have kept me from working as much on this as I would have liked. Hopefully, I should be able to get back into the rhythm of things and posting regularly from now on.

That being said, our story now picks up the day after the last chapter. Enjoy, folks!

* * *

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 9**

The late morning sun shining through the bedroom window woke Melanie, and she opened her eyes, glancing at the alarm clock on the bedside table.

10:30 AM.

She reluctantly dragged herself out of bed, glancing at the foot of the bed where she had tossed the suit after taking it off the previous night. She picked it up, folding it slowly, and slipped it into her bag. She still felt tired, and her side still hurt like hell, especially where Queen had kicked her in the ribs.

She slipped into the bathroom and checked herself over in the mirror. She saw some faint bruising on her side, but it wasn't too bad - at least, nowhere nearly as bad as it had been the previous night.  
The suit's heavy insulation had done its job, and despite the savage blows to her stomach and ribs, she hadn't had much.

But the back of her neck still hurt, and looking at her face she saw a light but distinct bruise where she'd been punched. The cowl's insulation was much thinner, so it had done a little more damage. According to Wayne, the bruises would be gone within a few days, and she was thankful that she didn't have classes to deal with.  
She thought about the previous evening again, and her anger flared - at her father, for recreating the Gang. But even more, at herself for underestimating them - especially underestimating Queen. She'd been careless.

She would not make that mistake again.

But what really ate away at her was Jack. Her dear big brother, who had been doing so well in Blüdhaven in the past couple of years. She didn't know if that was him or not. She thought not, but couldn't be completely sure.  
_'I have to talk to Jack, and soon.'_ She thought.

Then she treated herself to a long, hot shower. Half an hour later, feeling refreshed and having dressed, she was applying concealer to the bruise on her face when she heard the sound of the doorbell.

"JUST A MINUTE!" she yelled. As soon as she was done, she rushed from the bathroom and opened the door to find Max standing there, rummaging around her pocket. Melanie knew Max had a spare key that Terry had given her before. It didn't bother her much.  
"Hi, Max." She said, forcing a smile.

\- "Hey, girl." Max replied, glancing at Melanie. "What's up?"

\- "Not much - I was just getting ready." She said.

\- "Late start?" Max quipped, "Guess you're not workin' today."

\- "Not today, no." Melanie replied. "Working a double tomorrow, though."

\- "Uh-huh." Max said vaguely, looking Melanie over. She wore an elegant dark red long-sleeved shirt, loose-fitting and comfortable, and jeans. No shoes. But she looked tired, and Max thought she knew why. She'd been doing a good deal of thinking since determining that the suit was missing, and she guessed there really was only one person who could've taken it.  
"So," she started slowly, "what happened last night?"

\- "What do you mean?" Melanie asked in a would-be casual tone. Max rolled her eyes.

\- "I mean, where'd you get that big ole' bruise on your face?" She asked, and Melanie bit back a curse. She had been trying to hide the bruise, but wasn't finished, and of course Max had noticed it.

For a moment, Melanie tensed. Her mind racing, she tried to think of a plausible excuse, but she knew Max would probably see through anything she could make up on the spot. Besides, Max was a friend, and Terry trusted her.

\- "I think you've probably guessed." she said slowly. "You and I both know what Terry really does - what his job entails."

Max nodded. She'd known for years, and she knew that Terry had told Melanie. She'd been the one to tell him he should. Melanie continued speaking.  
"I know how important what he does is - we've talked about it." She said. "And after his accident, I knew that he would not be able to do it…and after a while…"

\- "You decided to experience it for yourself." Max interrupted. "And now, Batman's gone, but Gotham has Batgirl back."

\- "Someone had to do it." Melanie said. "And I decided it would be me. Because I know how important this is to Terry, and I know why he does it. And that's why I decided to do it, for him. And for all the people he has to protect."

\- "Like you." Max said, grinning, and Melanie nodded without hesitation.

\- "And his mother, and Matt. And his friends - you included." Melanie said. "But there was another reason I did it, too."

\- "Oh yeah?" Max asked. Melanie scoffed.

\- "I know that there are things you know about me - about my past - that I've not told you." Melanie said flatly. Max did not assent, but she did not deny it either. "That part of my life is over, of course. But I thought that this was as good a chance as any to make up for what I did then."

At that Max could not help but laugh. "Oh, damn, girl. You and him really _are _two of a kind."

\- "I know." Melanie said, and smiled.

\- "But girl, I am so jealous, though." Max continued. "I've been wondering what it was like since I figured out what Terry was up to. But hey, anything you need help with, I got your back."

Melanie finally relaxed, and she felt a surge of gratitude towards Max, who unlike Wayne seemed to be entirely willing to trust her, just like she did Terry.  
\- "Thanks a lot." She said.

\- Max nodded. "Does Terry know? That you…y'know, subbed for him?" She asked. "Or what about old grumpy-ass?"

\- "No, I haven't told Terry yet." Melanie said, smiling at the derisive nickname. "As for Wayne, he found out yesterday. To say that he was not happy would be an understatement."

\- "Man, what I would've given to be a fly on the wall in _that _conversation." Max quipped, and Melanie smiled. "But you still didn't answer my question - what happened to your face?"

Melanie's expression darkened. She hesitated.  
\- "The Royal Flush Gang." She said flatly. She knew, because Terry had told her when she'd found out, that Max knew something about her past. "Break-in last night."

\- "Daaamn." Max said in a low voice. "I'll bet that sucked - given, y'know."

\- "Yeah." Melanie said. She was still angry at herself for underestimating her enemy and letting herself get beaten so badly. But the more she thought about it, the more certain she was that the only one of her "family" that was there the previous night was her father. Queen was too brutal and far too skilled - it was definitely not her mother. Ten was obviously not her, and Jack…maybe it was wishful thinking, but she was convinced that if Queen and Ten were new, Jack had to be too.  
She briefly went over the highlights of the previous day's events, starting in Crime Alley, then the brief argument, and the break-in and the fight.

\- "But you don't think it's really them, do you? I mean, obviously you're not there, so there's at least one new member."

\- "Right." Melanie concurred. "I think except for my father, they're all new members. I don't know who, but…"

\- "Want me to snoop around, see if I can find out?" Max asked.

\- "No, thanks." Melanie shook her head. "But, there is something I do need your help with. I think you and I both know that it's very unlikely Wayne is going to let me keep holding on to the suit for very long."

\- "Nah, not if he can help it." Max concurred. "From what Ter's told me, he doesn't trust much of anyone. And I can vouch for that."

\- "I'm sure." Melanie added. "I also know that the suit has a receiver built into it linked to a kill switch in that cave he holes up in. And I'm sure he'll have repaired it before long, even though I disabled it last night. He might have already."

\- "And you want to prevent him from disabling the suit." Max supplied, and Melanie nodded. Then she withdrew a laptop computer from her bag, powered it on, and opened a single file on its hard drive, which she had heavily encrypted. Additionally, she kept this computer entirely disconnected from any larger network, meaning that it could never be hacked without a hardline connection to the machine itself.  
She opened the file, and turned it towards Max.  
"Wow." Max said. "Is that what I think it is?"

Melanie nodded. They were looking at detailed, high-resolution scans of the suit's internal circuitry.  
"This is way schway." Max said, visibly impressed. "Some of this circuitry is more than thirty years old, but it's pretty cutting edge. And a lot of it is much newer - probably from when Mr. Wayne upgraded the suit last year."

\- "Could you replicate it?" Melanie asked.

\- "I wish." Max said without looking up. "I could try, and with enough time could probably come pretty close. But some of these older parts are no longer even being made, so we'd have to find something comparable that we could get access to. And some of the newer stuff looks like proprietary WayneTech hardware - maybe even completely custom-made. I doubt we'd be able to match up _that_ level of tech, honestly. Why, d'you want to build another one?"

\- "Never mind that for now." Melanie replied, and Max grinned knowingly - yes, she did want to build a second suit, one of her own that could operate independently of Wayne and his computer. And the idea intrigued Max. But she didn't dwell on it for too long, as Melanie took over the keyboard and flipped through the file until she found the data she was searching for. "This is the important one."

Max spent a good bit of time analyzing what she was looking at, and she was relieved to see that it was at its core a fairly ordinary UHF radio receiver, though there were some pretty interesting refinements to it.  
\- "Okay, we can probably disable the receiver in the suit directly by disconnecting it here," she said, indicating a point in the scan she saw. "But, there's redundant backup lines here…"

\- "And I bet if we do anything to the suit itself, Wayne will know." Melanie interrupted. "What about building a jamming device that would prevent a signal from coming in only to that receiver?"

\- "Without disrupting comms or the suit's sensors?" Max replied. She flipped back a few pages to check something in the data, and continued. "Might be doable. It looks like this thing operates on its own dedicated frequency. I should have somethin' for ya in a couple of days."

\- "Thanks, Max." Melanie said sincerely. She hoped she would never actually need to use this thing. But she didn't trust Wayne, so if Max was willing to help, that was fine. "There's one other thing. The Gang has a distinctive M.O.: Their targets always have a connection to playing card suits; either the name of the place, or the specific item they're trying to steal - last night, it was the Broken Heart Diamond."

Max whistled, impressed. The Broken Heart had been in the news when a Gotham City collector had acquired it - a massive gemstone worth millions, it was one of the most valuable diamonds in the world.  
\- "For a first target, that's a big one." She said.

\- "Yeah." Melanie agreed. "The point is, given the distinctive profile, it should be possible to trace their next targets. Maybe even pre-empt them next time."

\- "I get it." Max said. "You need me to run a search, see what their likeliest targets are going to be. No problem - I'll get right on that, and let you know as soon as I have something."

\- "Thanks a lot." Melanie said again. Max left soon afterwards, and Melanie shut down and carefully put away the laptop, also making sure that the bag in which she kept the suit was well out of sight.  
Then she went back into the bathroom and finished getting ready, paying special attention to making sure the bruising on her face as hidden as much as possible.

She was just sitting down and debating whether to go get an early lunch when there was a knock at the door.  
_'__Who knocks on the door anymore?' _She wondered idly as she stood to open it. She was surprised to find at the door two people, one of whom was Officer Montoya, the cop who'd driven her to the hospital the day of Terry's accident.

The other was a man, tall and lean, olive-skinned with close-cropped black hair. He cut a striking figure, except for the grim seriousness of his expression. He wore a loose, dark brown jacket, but Melanie still spotted the telltale bulge of a shoulder holster just below his left arm, as well as the badge clipped in plain sight on his belt.

"Ms. Walker? I'm Detective Miguel Alcana, GCPD. This is Officer Montoya. We'd like to ask you a few questions."

\- "About what?" She asked, a hard edge creeping into her voice, her eyes narrowed. She suspected she knew precisely what he was talking about, but her expression betrayed nothing.

\- "If it's all right," Montoya spoke up, "I think it would be better if we spoke in private."

Melanie hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded curtly, leading them to the sparse living area.  
\- "So what's this about?" She asked, looking at Montoya.

\- "You might not know about it, but there was a break-in last night at a very high-end jewelry store called Chesterfield's." Montoya started to say. "Thieves broke in, killing two security guards, and stole a fair amount of jewelry, including two extremely valuable pieces."

\- "No, I hadn't heard." Melanie replied. "So what's that got to do with me?"

\- "Because the gang that hit Chesterfield's last night was the Royal Flush Gang." Montoya replied. "I'm not necessarily suggesting that you had anything to do with it, but given your record, we have to ask."

Melanie bit her lip, fighting back the urge to say something she might regret. On some level, she didn't blame them, and Officer Montoya had been pretty nice to her the first time they'd met. They were just doing their job, after all. But it was getting old.  
\- "Maybe," she said. "But considering that I haven't spoken to my parents in more than two and a half years, I'm afraid I can't help you."

\- "Your parents are one thing," Alcana said, "but it looks like you've been in contact with your brother quite a lot."

\- "No shit." She replied flatly. "He's the only family I have left - and in case you haven't noticed, he hasn't had any contact with them either."

\- "That you know of." Alcana replied, and Melanie glared furiously at him. "Where were you last night between 8:00 and 10:00 PM?"

\- "I went for a walk." Melanie replied. "Nowhere in particular."

\- "Anyone go with you?" Alcana asked.

\- "No." She retorted. "Then I came back here and went to sleep."

\- "So you don't have an alibi."

\- "Look, I have a life of my own, now." Melanie said, fighting the urge to yell. "A job, friends, I'm in a relationship with someone who trusts me in spite of everything I did. I'm going to college." She said slowly, making an effort to control her temper. "You really think I would jeopardize all of that for parents who hate me?"

\- "And your boyfriend, can he vouch for your whereabouts?" Alcana asked.

\- "He's in the hospital." Montoya replied. "Drunk driver hit his motorbike downtown."

\- "How do you know that?" Miguel Alcana asked, looking surprised.

\- "Because I was one of the first on the scene, and I personally cuffed the son of a bitch." Montoya answered.

Melanie supplied Terry's name and the room he was in at Alcana's request.  
\- "Is that all?" She asked cuttingly.

\- "For now, Melanie." Montoya replied. "But if you hear anything, let me know." She left her number with Melanie, and the two cops left. She slammed the door shut behind them.

Outside, the two officers returned to Detective Alcana's plain-wrap.  
"She's hiding something." Alcana assessed. "No alibi for the break-in, either."

\- "Yeah, true." Montoya replied. "I'll check with the boyfriend at Gotham General, and look up her old P.O., see what he has to say. Still, alibi or not my gut says we won't find anything. I don't think she's involved."

\- "Truth, Montoya? So does mine." Alcana said as they drove off.

* * *

Melanie watched the plain-wrap cruiser move off through the apartment window, then stalked off into the living room and collapsed onto the couch.  
She was tired of getting dragged back in every time the Royal Flush Gang resurfaced, and still sore after the beating she'd received.  
She thought about Terry, and wondered if the cops would be talking to him. Probably would, she reflected.

And she decided it was high time he knew what she had done. She would return to visit him in the hospital, and then she would tell him everything. That decision made, she grabbed her bag, locked the apartment, and left to get some lunch.

No matter what, she thought, her conscience was clear. She just hoped Jack was okay too…


	10. 10: Aftermath, Part 2

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 9**

In his room at Gotham General Hospital Terry McGinnis was sitting up in bed, working on getting caught up on what he had missed in school because of his accident. His goal - aided by Max, Melanie, and a couple of others - was to use the time he spent immobile during Winter Break to catch up on what he'd missed before the start of next term. He had to work left-handed, since his right arm, while doing much better, was still not fully healed. It was uncomfortable, but not too bad.

His mother and Matt had come by that morning, and his injuries were healing well. The leg had been cause for the most concern, but fortunately there had been no infection. The bone had been set and stabilized, and the injury was healing slowly.

What was really on his mind, however, was the previous day's discovery - the disappearance of the Batsuit. He still felt responsible for it, as Wayne had trusted him with that responsibility, and to have allowed something like that to happen, Terry felt like he'd let the old man down.

He heard the door open, and as he looked up his expression brightened, as Melanie walked into the room.  
"Hey." He said, smiling.

\- "Hi." She answered. "How're you feeling?"

\- "Physically, doing pretty great, considering." He said. Melanie sat down at the foot of the bed. "Got a lot on my mind, though. How about you? I would've thought you'd be at work today."

\- "No, not today. I'm working a double tomorrow, but I took today off." She said. Terry put down what he'd been working on and looked over at her. As he did, he thought something seemed off, but couldn't quite put his finger on what.  
"Listen, Terry." She continued. "There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."

\- "What is it?" He asked.

\- "It's about…well, about your "job"." She said, and Terry frowned, wondering what she was getting at. She was hesitant, and she sounded worried.  
"I mean, obviously in your condition, you can't do anything."

\- "I know. It's been driving me up the wall, knowing that I'm stuck in here, and I can't…" Terry sighed. "What's even worse is that the…my "uniform" is missing."

\- "No, it isn't." She said calmly, surprising Terry. He looked at Melanie again as she stood, and he felt her lay her hand on his uninjured arm. "I have it."

Terry's jaw dropped.  
\- "You took the suit?" He asked incredulously. "Why?"

Of all the things she could have said, that was the one he had least expected. And yet, the more he thought about it, it made sense. Melanie knew everything about his "job" as Batman. She knew what he did, and why, and she understood its importance to him.

So when she did answer, it didn't surprise him.

\- "Because I know how important what you do is." She said. "Because there are people counting on you, even though they might not know it. So I decided to do it, until you're able to."

He smiled, chuckling a bit. He wasn't all that surprised.  
"Does Wayne know?" He asked.

\- "He found out yesterday," she answered, and briefly recounted the events of the previous evening, beginning with the events in Park Row, and culminating with her decision to seek out a direct confrontation with Wayne, in the Cave. "It was, as I'm sure you can imagine, not a pleasant conversation."

\- "Yeah, I'll bet." Terry replied. "But he let you keep it? That doesn't seem very likely."

\- "Well," she said with a wry sort of grin, "I didn't exactly give him a choice in the matter."  
At that Terry laughed out loud.

\- "I don't see what's so funny about this." A voice growled from the doorway, as Wayne entered.  
Terry greeted his employer.  
As for Melanie, she deliberately ignored him, continuing with a recap of her confrontation with the re-created Royal Flush Gang and the failed attempt to foil the robbery at Chesterfield's.

\- "I heard about the robbery in the news this morning." Terry said soberly. "They said the thieves made of with several million in jewelry, including two priceless pieces that were in the jeweler's vault.

\- "The Broken Heart Diamond, and the Vonalster Fabergé Egg." Melanie supplied, while Wayne nodded.

\- "GCPD has kept a tight lid on it," Wayne said, "including who the perpetrators actually were. But with two dead, they had to release the story."

\- "So the Royal Flush Gang's back." Terry commented, looking over at Melanie, whose expression was troubled. "That must've been hard."

\- "It was. King was definitely my father," Melanie said, "I recognized him. But the others I'm almost certain are all new members."

\- "You don't know that." Wayne protested sharply, and Melanie glared at him.  
Before she could reply, Terry cut in.

\- "Well obviously, Ten has to be new." He said. "So it's not impossible that some or all of the others might be new members as well."

\- "Queen was definitely not my mother either." Melanie supplied. "Of that I'm absolutely certain. And Jack's in Blüdhaven, making an honest living just like I am. After they abandoned him last time, he wouldn't go back."  
On the latter point, she was less sure, but she hoped she was right. As for Queen, she was adamant that it was not her mother, whoever that was under the make-up and costume of the Queen of the Royal Flush Gang.

Bruce remained doubtful, though he was forced to admit that they were at least partly right. Besides, he could do a little searching to find out for sure.

\- "Well, what about his mistress?" Terry suggested. "What was her name again…Sable Thorpe?"

\- "Mistress?" Melanie asked, staring at Terry, sounding surprised. "What are you talking about?"

Terry realized that, of course, since she had been on her own already at the time, Melanie hadn't known the details of the last encounter between Batman and the Royal Flush Gang.  
\- "It was after you started working at the Kitchen, the last time the Royal Flush Gang was caught." Terry said. "The Gang had been hired by Paxton Powers," Terry continued, and when a job went sour, they tried to hold him for ransom. Then he hired them to try to kill Mr. Wayne."

Melanie listened intently, though on some level she felt disgust at what she heard - that the Gang would stoop to being errand runners for a slime like Powers…  
At the same time, Terry's words tugged at her memory, and she dimly remembered one night having heard something on TV around that time about Powers's abduction.  
She also remembered that was also the night Batman had found her at the Kitchen. That was when she'd asked about her letter to Terry.  
\- "Obviously, they weren't successful." She commented, "but I still don't see…"

\- "I'm getting there." Terry interjected. "Well, Powers had this assistant working for him - woman by the name of Sable Thorpe. Turns out, she was King's mistress, and the two of them orchestrated the entire thing. While I kept the others busy, he ran for it. He was going to ditch the rest of the Gang - in other words, just Queen by that point, since you were long gone and along the way they left Jack to be arrested - and start over with her."

\- "Bastard!" Melanie exclaimed, her fists clenched so tightly her fingernails dug into her palms.  
Though she had long since turned her back on the Royal Flush Gang, deep down she had never been able to let go of a lingering affection for her mother, just like with Jack. For this reason, her father's adultery and callous betrayal enraged her.

\- "Yeah, "I'm sure Queen agreed. When she caught up with him, she damn near killed him. I tracked her, and that's how they were all taken down." Terry concluded. "Given that though, I think it's far more likely that King would recruit his mistress than try to patch things up with his wife."

\- "So King and Queen are accounted for. Jack may or may not be a new recruit," Wayne commented, "which leaves Ace and Ten unidentified. I will see what I can find out about King's break-out and who his likely accomplices might be."

Melanie glanced at Wayne, saw the skepticism, but said nothing. The conversation continued, moving onto where the Gang's next target might be, and Melanie kept quiet the steps she had taken earlier that day to answer that same question.

She knew of at least one likely target the gang would probably hit, and soon. And she was already making her own plans to head them off.  
After a while, she announced that she was leaving, kissing Terry and bidding him good night.

He watched her go, and once she had left, turned to Wayne.  
"So," he said, "that was an interesting turn of events."

\- "The resurgence of the Royal Flush Gang is hardly that surprising, although it was unexpected." Wayne commented. "Still, it's nothing we haven't seen before."

\- "That's not what I meant, and you know it." Terry replied, rolling his eyes. "I meant Melanie."

Wayne did not reply, but Terry saw the doubt on the old man's face.  
"Admit it, I was right." Terry insisted. "I've been saying it for over a year, but you didn't want to believe me. Well now, I guess she's proven that she's turned over a new leaf. And then some."

Bruce still didn't answer, his expression irritated, but still contemplative. It wasn't easy, admitting that he'd been wrong. But, as much as he hated to admit it, Terry had been right - the previous evening's events had proven that.  
It was like the Walker girl had said - if he'd been right about her, he'd be dead.  
After that, only a fool would have stuck to an opinion that was so at odds with the facts. Still, he remained hesitant. It just wasn't in his nature to trust in that way, which was where he and Terry mainly differed.

He would keep an eye out, all the same.  
\- "Thus far," he said cautiously, "It would seem so. Certainly the fact that a new Royal Flush Gang is in play makes it much less likely that she would go back to them."

\- "Especially given what she learned today." Terry commented. "Did you see the look on her face when she learned about Thorpe? I haven't seen her that pissed off since the day we first met last year."

\- "All the same, I'll feel better once you're back out there. " Wayne continued, "How are your injuries?"

\- "Ribs are doing great, and my arm's healing pretty nicely. Not as fast as I'd like, but it's healing. Those were pretty minor though. The big one was the leg fracture, and since there was no infection, they were able to set and stabilize the bone pretty quickly. It's healing slowly, but getting better."

\- "Good." Wayne commented. "Well, I need to get going - I'm meeting Tim and Lucius at the office. Good night, Terry."

\- "Good night, sir." Terry said.  
Once Wayne was gone, Terry set aside the work he'd been doing, lay down, and turned on the TV. He thought about what he just learned, and smiled.

Melanie, out there in his place. On a certain level, the idea scared him, because he knew the kinds of risks he took out there. And he had years of experience using the suit, so he knew exactly what to do and when.  
But at the same time, he knew Melanie was perfectly capable of handling herself.

And that she had been willing to do that, for him…  
"Man," He mused, "this is going to be interesting. I wonder if we should tell Mom."

Soon, however, he was asleep.

* * *

When Bruce Wayne arrived at his mansion later that night, he headed straight down to the cave, starting up the enormous computer, and began running a program the intent of which was to locate information on King, Sable Thorpe, and any possible accomplices.

While the program was running, he turned to the workbench behind the computer. He stood without moving, contemplating what he was about to do, for a long time.  
Then, with a resigned sigh, he fetched several tool boxes and a few other items he would need, and he got to work.

Some time later, his phone rang, and when he picked it up he heard the voice of Commissioner Barbara Gordon.  
\- "Good evening, Barbara." He said. "I suppose this isn't a social call."

\- "No, it's not." she replied. "I'm under a lot of pressure to get this Chesterfield robbery business taken care of, and get the thieves under custody."

\- "The Royal Flush Gang?" He asked.

\- "Why am I not surprised that you know that?" Barbara asked sarcastically. "Did you have someone at Chesterfield's last night instead of the kid?"

\- "Chesterfield's acquisition of the Broken Heart Diamond was pretty well publicized." Wayne answered evasively. "If anyone broke in, that would be their first target. And the Royal Flush Gang is the likeliest culprit."

\- "True," Barbara commented, rolling her eyes. She knew a dodge when she heard one, and wasn't about to let the old man get off so easily. "But you didn't answer my question. At any rate, you might also be interested to find out that they also stole the Vonalster Fabergé Egg."

\- "That sounds familiar." Bruce replied. He remembered the Egg quite well, having foiled an attempt by the Penguin to steal it. Among others.

\- "Well, whoever you've got filling McGinnis's shoes, tell them to stay out of the way. Anything you turn up, let me know."

\- "Of course." Bruce replied, and hung up, thinking about Barbara and how good a cop she was, just like her father had been.

He checked on his program, but it was still running. There was a lot of information to search through, but it had already turned up a few promising potential leads.  
He let it run, and pondered the situation as well as considered what he knew about the gang, attempting to determine their next move.

He was about to turn around and get back to work when he heard behind him the car's engine turn on. rising from a whisper to a deep, rumbling roar as the turbine wound up to full power, and then decreasing to a low growl as its stealth systems engaged, reducing the car's acoustic signature to almost nothing. It was a more refined version of tech he'd had installed in his old plane, decades earlier.  
The vehicle rotated almost noiselessly, then tore down the long passage that led to a concealed exit hatch, hidden behind a waterfall on a cliff near the edge of the Wayne property, from which it left.

He knew why and where it was going, so he seated himself at the comfortable chair in front of the computer, calling up a map that showed the car's location as well as the suit's.

As the two points converged, he kept an eye on his temporary charge as she began another night's patrol…


	11. 11: Blüdhaven

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **So, moving forward I'm going to try and upload a chapter once every 2-3 weeks, so we should hopefully be able to get to the end pretty soon.

This chapter ended up being mostly setup, so not much in the way of action. That will change next chapter. In the meantime though, here it is! As ever, please RxR.

* * *

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 11**

The doorbell rang, and Melanie looked up briefly. She'd gotten back in the small hours of the morning after a long patrol, but sleep had not come easy. And now it was mid-morning, and she was busy.

Winter break was nearing its end, but she had begged a couple of days off of work, citing a family emergency - which was true enough. Bill had not pressed for details.  
She opened the door to find the grinning face of Max Gibson, and smiled tiredly.

"Hey, Max." She said.

\- "Hey, Mel." Max replied. "You look beat."

\- "Yeah, it's been a long couple of nights." Melanie replied. "What with the robbery and all - Gotham's Finest came to call after you left the other day."

\- "I heard." Max replied, the smile fading from her face, her expression concerned. "You okay?"

\- "I'll be fine." She said. Max's expression told Melanie she didn't quite believe her, but she said nothing.

\- "Anyway," Max continued, changing the subject, "I got somethin' for you." She held out a small, flat black device, roughly the size of a tube of lipstick. There was a discreet switch on the top. "It's a UHF radio jammer. Should block any signal on a given frequency. You switch it on, and nothing gets through."

\- "Thanks a lot, Max." Melanie said gratefully, with a small smile. She took the device, which she guessed would fit neatly in the belt, and pocketed it.  
Now, she was ready in the event the old man ever decided to try to pull the plug on her. And because it operated only on that specific frequency, it would not interfere with any of the suit's other equipment.

Max looked around the open living area, and saw an open, half-full suitcase on the floor next to the couch.  
\- "You skipping town or something?" She asked.

\- "Just for a few days - I have to head up to Blüdhaven to see Jack. I'm worried about him."

\- "Your brother." Max said. "You think the Gang might go after him?"

\- "You don't?" Melanie replied rhetorically. Max nodded, and continued.

\- "Good point. You told me he works at a place called the Queen of Spades, right?" Max asked, and Melanie nodded. Max continued. "Now that you mention it, that's possibly one of the likeliest targets for the gang to hit, given their MO. That, and that new floating casino here in Gotham. Which one they'll hit first though - no idea."

Melanie was not surprised - Max had said she'd do some digging. She was also betting the old man had been working along similar lines.  
\- "I think probably they're going to hit the Queen first." She said slowly.

\- "It's farther away," Max protested, "but you might be right. Especially since your brother's there."  
Melanie nodded.  
"And that's why you're going?"

\- "That, and I'm not entirely certain Jack isn't involved." She admitted. "But I don't think so. I just want to make sure he's okay."

Max nodded. She understood that, though she had no siblings of her own. But she knew how Terry felt about Max. And she felt the same way about her friends, too.

The two friends spent much of the day together, including taking the time to check in with Terry to see how he was doing. But that evening, Melanie returned to the dorm alone. It was almost time to go.

She had not said anything to the old man, but she and Terry had talked about her plans earlier that day, when she and Max had visited the hospital. She was sure Wayne would be pissed, but didn't care.

Some things were too important.

She slipped a worn, dark-brown backpack into her suitcase, then closed it. Her ticket was on the counter of the little galley kitchen, and she grabbed that, rolling the suitcase behind her as she left. She turned out the lights, locked the door, and began to swiftly walk away, into the gathering darkness.

* * *

**BLÜDHAVEN  
****The Queen of Spades Hotel/Casino  
****The following day**

Gotham's sister-city did not have quite the notoriety of its neighbor, but the two cities had a long shared history going back centuries. And, in recent decades, both had grown enormously.  
Despite its lack of Gotham's more colorful and notorious criminal elements, Blüdhaven had not been entirely free of similar issues. This, among other things, is what had driven Dick Grayson, when he left Gotham, to settle here. Far enough away that he could be his own man, but close enough to Gotham that he wasn't completely out of touch with his few friends in that city. And in a place where he was in a position to do some good.

Nightwing had become a thing of the past long before his erstwhile mentor had hung up his own cape and cowl. Like his former girlfriend, the twenty-seven-year-old Dick Grayson had become a cop. Now, he was Commissioner Richard John Grayson, of the Blüdhaven PD. Though his hair, dark and close-cropped, had turned to grey, he was tall, lean, and every bit as physically fit as he had been as a young vigilante.

Commissioner Grayson was much more hands-on than many of his predecessors had been, which is why a lot of cops liked and respected the tough ex-vigilante - of whose past many were aware. He'd made no secret of it.  
It was also why, at that moment, he found himself not in his office at BPD headquarters, but sitting on the corner of a desk in the bullpen of the 12th Precinct, just as a raid was getting underway. He listened, let the Precinct commander, a man only slightly younger than him, a Blüdhaven native named Hank Callahan - lead the show.  
Soon, they were rolling, Grayson riding along with a detective named McQueen, who led the raid.

The cruisers rolled up to the Queen of Spades, a massive casino just on the coast, not far down from the docks.  
And the cops entered, in formation. After a moment's pause, they made straight for a poker table and quietly surrounded the dealer, a tall, lanky young man with medium-length black hair and a thin goatee that did nothing to hide a rather weak, pointed chin.

"Jackson Walker." McQueen said formally. "Detective McQueen, BPD. We need to speak with you."

\- "Can't it wait?" Walker replied laconically. "I'm dealing a game, here."

At that, the manager, a rotund middle-aged man whose belly hung over his belt and whose dung-brown, thinning hair was clearly dyed - and badly at that - waddled over to the table.  
\- "Now listen here," he started to say, "I don't know what this is about, but you can't just come in here and start harassing my employees."

\- "I have a warrant here that says I can." Grayson spoke up clearly from the rear of the group, and a couple of cops slid aside to make way for the commissioner to approach the laid the warrant on said table, right in front of the manager. Ignoring the glares of the poker players whose game he had interrupted.

\- "Co…Commissioner Grayson." The manager stammered. "What, may I ask, is this about?"

\- "The warrant also requires that you hand over to my officers copies of all security vid footage for the entirety of the past five days." Grayson continued, ignoring the question.

The manager reviewed the warrant, which was signed by a Judge who had owed Dick a favor related to a corruption case two years earlier.  
\- "O…of course." He manager said, cowed. Then he turned on his heel and tottered off. Grayson and McQueen both ignored him.

\- "Well, well, well, imagine that: not merely Blüdhaven's finest, but the Commissioner himself, coming all the way down here for little old me." Jack said with a sarcastic grin.

McQueen cut in.  
\- "Mr. Walker," he said, "have you had any recent contact with any current or prior members of the Royal Flush Gang?"

\- "The what now?" Walker replied. "Oh yes, the Gang. Can't say that I have. I thought the Gang was broken up, anyway."

\- "Mr. Walker, I would strongly advise that you tell the truth." Grayson cut in severely. "I know for a fact that you were at Stryker's Island Maximum Security Penitentiary on the 12th, where you spoke at length with Donna Walker."

\- "Is that a crime now, for a boy to visit his dear old mum?" Walker deadpanned.

\- "No, but it is a crime to lie to the police." Grayson replied. "Do _not_ do it again, or I will have these officers arrest you, and we will conduct this interview in a more…_formal_ setting."

\- "Very well." Jack said with a long-suffering expression and a theatrical sigh. "If we're including poor Mum, then yes, I have been in touch with her. I've also had a few phone calls from my little sister over in Gotham. Nothing from dear old Daddy, though."

\- "Has your sister had, that you know of, any contact whatsoever with any other current or prior accomplices?" McQueen continued

\- "Given that she was the first of us to leave," he said without a hint of bitterness. "I'd call that bloody unlikely."  
For a while, Jack had resented Melanie's departure, when he had been forced by their parents to take over Ten's responsibilities in the Gang.  
But that was all in the past, now. She had sprung him, helped him get back on his feet. He'd moved here, gotten this job. He was doing relatively well. And it was all thanks to her.

\- "Can you account for your whereabouts on the 17th between the hours of five PM and one AM?"

\- "I was here until 10:30 PM." Jack replied smoothly. "After that, I went straight home, and went to sleep. I took the bus home, I'm sure you'll be able to verify."

Not long afterwards, the manager returned with a set of discs and a very unpleasant expression on his pudgy face.  
\- "There." He said shortly. "You have your security vid footage. Is there anything else?"

\- "Not for now." Grayson replied cuttingly. Then, towards Walker. "Don't leave town, Mr. Walker."

At a gesture from McQueen, the officers turned around and left the casino, the cruisers tearing out of the parking lot back towards the precinct headquarters. Not long after that, Grayson was on his way back to headquarters with a copy of the security vid footage for the day of the Chesterfield break-in, as well as those immediately preceding and following that day.  
He had a phone call to make, and he had work to do.

* * *

Late that night, Jack Walker trudged, exhausted, back to the flat he lived in, a few blocks from the Queen. It had been a long, tiring day, made worse by the visit by the police, though he had tried to roll it off.  
He fumbled with his keys to open the door, when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Long day?"

\- "Yeah." He answered mechanically, then stopped. He recognized that voice. Very slowly, he turned around.

\- "Hi, Jack." Melanie said, with a small smile. "It's been a while."

\- "It sure has." Jack said, smiling warmly as he hugged his little sister. It had been at least a year since they'd seen each other, though they had been in semi-regular contact ever since Jack had moved to Blüdhaven. "Come in, come in."

They entered the flat, which was a slightly shabby one-bedroom, but nearly twice the size of Melanie's old flat downtown in Gotham and in much better shape.

"I'm glad to see that you're doing well." She said unnecessarily.

\- "Yes, I suppose you are right." Jack said with an impish grin. "What about you then - still washing dishes at the Kitchen?"

\- "Waitressing." She said, shaking her head. "Though I'm also assistant chef, as well."

\- "And you were telling me you're taking classes at Gotham U, as well. So you've moved out of that ghastly little garret we lived in downtown?"

\- "Yeah. I'm sharing on-campus housing with someone." She said.

\- "So you mentioned, yes. So when do I get to meet him?" Jack asked, still grinning. "I assume it's a him?"

Melanie smiled, shaking her head. She hadn't said much about Terry, at least not yet. "Yes, it's a guy. His name is Terry - he's at Gotham U too. Maybe next time I'll bring him along. Right now though, he's in the hospital - car accident."

\- "That's tough luck, Melanie." Jack said, his expression serious. "But I don't suppose you came all the way out here just for this. "

\- "No." She said seriously. "I suppose you've heard about what happened in Gotham a couple of nights ago?"

\- "Yes, it was on the news yesterday." He said. "And Blüdhaven's Finest paid a visit to the Queen this morning. Apparently, Daddy's up to his old tricks again."

Melanie nodded. And hesitated, unsure of how to express her doubts, her fears, afraid of hurting the only family she had left.

\- "Jack…" she said slowly, "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but…did you know about this? Did you…?"

-"Did I have anything to do with it? Did I go back to the Gang?" He asked, and she nodded hesitantly. "Of course not, Melanie. After everything you did for me, it'd be a poor way to repay you to flush it all down the drain. And I wouldn't do that to my baby sister."

\- "Thank you." She said, and it was as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The knot in her stomach unclenched, and she visibly relaxed.

\- "What about you?" He asked pointedly. "Seems a bit stupid to ask, but you've not changed your mind, have you?"

She shook her head, understanding why he felt he had to ask. She was even relieved that he did, and even moreso at his visible relief at her denial.  
"So he's replaced the whole lot of us - new Queen, new Ten, new Jack. Might still be the same old Ace, but I rather doubt it. I was just visiting Mum at Stryker's a few days back, and I doubt she knows about it either."

\- "Stryker's?" Melanie asked, suddenly surprised. "I thought they were both at Stonegate."

\- "They were, but last year she got transferred to Stryker's after she tried to kill him. I think he was transferred to a prison out of state 'round that time. Anyway, I went to see her a few days back. She asked about you, you know. Seemed relieved when I told her you were doing well."

For a moment, neither spoke. Melanie was troubled. She had not troubled to inquire after her mother in almost three years, and yet Jack told her that she had asked about her.  
"You really ought to go see her." Jack added, and she found that she could only nod. Perhaps he was right.

"Anyway," he said in a would-be casual tone. "I'm bushed, and it looks like so are you. You go ahead and take the bed - bedroom's right over there. I'll kip out here on the couch."

Melanie shook her head.  
"No, it's fine. I'll sleep out here - you go sleep in your own bed, Jack." she said.  
Jack insisted, but Melanie remained firm. He shook her head ruefully, and conceded, heading towards the door he had indicated as the bedroom's.

He came back out with a pillow and a blanket for her, and she thanked him.  
He disappeared into the bedroom, changed, and sank into bed, falling asleep in minutes.

Meanwhile, Melanie lay awake, thinking about Jack and what he had said. He was right, of course. But she still wasn't sure whether she was ready to take that step.

And she wished she could talk to Terry about it.  
As if on cue, her cellular buzzed quietly in her purse. She fished it out, and saw that it was not Terry's number. She pressed a button, and the call went to voicemail - if, as she suspected, it was the old man, he could wait. She had no desire to speak to that mean-tempered old bastard at the moment.

Taking a deep breath, she dialed Terry's number. Despite the lateness of the hour, Terry answered instantly.  
"Did I wake you?" she asked.

\- "Nope." He said smoothly. "Can't really sleep right now. Are you home?"

\- "No, I'm still in Blüdhaven. I told you I wanted to see Jack. After everything that's happened, I had to talk to him face-to-face."

\- "And?" Terry asked.

\- "He had nothing to do with it." She said firmly. "Before, I wasn't sure, but I am now. He wouldn't ever do something like that to me."

\- "But you don't have any proof of that." Terry said. "And you know what Mr. Wayne is going to say."

\- "That cynical old bastard doesn't trust anyone." She grumbled, and Terry laughed. He remembered having said much the same thing, once. "And from what he's told me, I think we were right about Queen as well. Unless it's gotten a lot easier recently to get off Stryker's."  
Terry agreed with that. But with that transition, Melanie moved on to what Jack had told her about her mother. And her own confused feelings about the subject.

\- "Terry, I just…I don't know what to do." She said. "After what they did to me, and to Jack. How can I ever trust that she won't betray me again?"

\- "She loves you." He said with absolute conviction. "And if that's not reason enough, then think of it this way: You were able to turn your life around, and you made it possible for your brother to do the same with his life. So maybe your Mom just needs the opportunity."

\- "You're probably right." She said. "I mean, look at us, right? I guess…If you and I could do it, and Jack…if Mum had the chance, she could too."

\- "That's right." Terry said. "Besides, if there's one thing we both know, it's that everyone deserves a second chance."

\- "Thank you," she said. "For everything. I love you." And she ended the call, turning off her phone. Soon, she had slowly, peacefully drifted off to sleep.


	12. 12: The Queen of Spades

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **So, here's the next chapter, which directly follows up on the previous one. Some action, some set up, some development. Has a bit of everything, which is probably why it's the longest chapter yet in this story!  
As ever, please R&amp;R. I appreciate it. Thanks!

* * *

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 12**

The following morning, Melanie was up early, and made breakfast for the two of them, which they ate together, briefly discussing recent events in their respective lives, before Jack said that he had to leave for work.  
"You should come along - have a look around." He offered. "It's a nice place to work."

She decided to take him up on his offer, dressing in her black silk sheath dress, with a string of pearls around her neck, and a matching bracelet. To this she added a simple pearl belt, and over it a long, plain black overcoat. From her suitcase she withdrew a large black leather handbag, which she slipped over her shoulder.  
They left together, Jack wearing a great coat over his uniform - a red velvet vest over a white dress shirt, black bow tie, and black dress slacks. They split up at the wide, ornate entrance of the Queen of Spades Hotel-Casino, as Jack went to begin his shift.

Melanie checked both her handbag and her coat at the entrance, keeping only a small dark red clutch that contained her wallet and a few other odds and ends. Her phone she deliberately left in the larger bag.

The word "opulence" did not even begin to describe the Queen or its clientèle. The ground-floor casino of the thirty-six-story luxury hotel/casino spanned almost an acre, the table limits were high, and the patrons were some of the wealthiest men and women in Blüdhaven, Metropolis, and Gotham City.

Even the quiet affluence of the upscale patrons of the Iceberg Lounge in Gotham could not compare to the opulence of the Queen, and Melanie, looking around, was exceedingly surprised that Jack had been hired to work in such a place.

All the same, the nineteen-year-old Melanie Walker had not seen such opulence since her childhood with the Royal Flush Gang. In spite of this, she walked into the casino with her head held high, a confident smile on her face, and she saw heads turn her way as she paused to look around, then spotted her brother at a table some distance away.

As she began to step towards the table, she was intercepted by a thirty-something wearing a tailored italian suit, highly-polished British oxfords, and an expression of smug self-confidence. He vaguely reminded Melanie of Paxton Powers, not that Melanie had ever _met _Powers. But he seemed like the same type.

"Good morning, young lady." He said. "I don't believe I've seen you before."

\- "No, I would expect not." She said smoothly. "This is the first time I've come here."

\- "Really?" He said. "Well, I would be honored if you would allow me to buy you a drink to celebrate."

\- "Thank you, but no." she said with a polite smile. "I'm meeting someone."  
Melanie stepped away before the would-be suitor could attempt to force the issue, and greeted her brother with a discreet nod as he began to deal a game of, she saw, blackjack.

One of the patrons shifted sideways to make room at the table, and when Jack inquired professionally whether she wished to be dealt in, she declined politely, content to watch the game unfold. The stakes, as expected, were high, and Melanie watched with feigned interest, conversing idly with the players in between hands.

Later in the morning a six-foot-eight-inch man in his late sixties strolled up to the table. He wore a suit jacket over a red vest similar to that worn by the dealers she saw at every table, with the notable difference that it was impeccably tailored to fit his broad frame. His face was craggy, with deep lines around his eyes and the corners of a mouth set in a broad, open smile.  
A plated nametag on his lapel read "J. MULCAHY".

The game Jack had been dealing wound down, and once it ended a new game began, another dealer arrived and took over the table for Jack, who then quietly announced to Melanie that he was taking a short break, before addressing the new arrival.

"John." he said with a respectful nod.

\- "Jack." Mulcahy replied. "Good to see my best dealer's doing well. And who is this lovely young lady with you?"

\- "My sister, Melanie." Jack introduced. Then, turning to Melanie, he said. "Melanie, this is Mr. John Mulcahy, who gave me this job."

\- "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." Melanie said politely.

John Mulcahy struck Melanie as someone of obvious importance, judging from the respectful tone with which Jack addressed him, despite the use of first names. She guessed, correctly, that Mulcahy was either the manager, or someone very close to the manager, for the casino. And once again wondered why this man, obviously successful and, to her eye, just as obviously wealth, had taken the risk of hiring a convict - grateful though she was that he had.

What neither she nor indeed Jack knew was that the assistant manager of the casino was a man who, in his own youth, had been a small-time thief himself, who had turned himself around following the death of his brother in a heist gone wrong. Forty years later, sixty-eight-year-old John Mulcahy had hired Jack after interviewing him personally, later explaining his decision to his boss by stating his own belief in second chances.

After a pleasant conversation that lasted some twenty minutes, Mulcahy excused himself, and as Jack wove his way through the crowd, she followed, addressing him.

"Well, this is certainly a few steps up from the Kitchen." She commented dryly.

\- "It is, isn't it?" Jack replied. "I was bloody lucky to get this job soon after moving here. Reminds me of the old days, except without the risks."  
Behind him, Melanie frowned, but she knew what he meant. This was the closest either of them had been to the wealth of their childhood, and Jack was able to do so legally, without resorting to criminal activity. Of course, he himself was not wealthy - the casino's rules strictly prohibited employees from participating in gambling in the house, but dealers earned a small percentage from the house take for each game, so his earnings were reasonably high.

"Plus, John likes to ask me to deal the high-stakes games, because I'm so good at spotting cheaters."

\- "I'll bet." Melanie said with a laugh. Jack, like their father, was a brilliant poker player; he knew how to play, and he knew how to cheat. Every single trick, he knew and had used himself on occasion, fleecing unwitting marks out of their money in between jobs.

\- "Yup. Bit later today there's a pretty big tournament being played in the O-Club on the second floor. Fifteen grand buy-in, twenty-five percent to the house. Each dealer gets a half-percent cut from the house take - which is still a pretty nice sum. John and his boss'll be there to keep an eye on it. You should come up and sit in."

\- "Maybe I will." Melanie replied with a half-smile.  
Good as her word, Melanie found her way to the casino's Officer's Club later that day, and found Jack at one of the thirty-two tables, each one surrounded by eight players and manned by a single dealer. At one of the tables was her would-be suitor from that morning.

At another table at the front of the room a pudgy man in an expensive suit with badly-dyed hair. Next to him she recognized John Mulcahy. Several others were present whom she guessed were also casino managers. The pudgy manager stood for a brief speech, after which the games began.

Several hours later, the tournament broke for lunch, with approximately half the players eliminated, including her would-be suitor, who had gambled his winnings against a chance to take Melanie out to dinner in the final round, only for his full house to fall to a perfect Royal Flush from his remaining opponent. At that turn of events, Jack glanced at Melanie with an amused grin, which she returned. Both found the irony highly entertaining.

They had climbed back down to the floor to have lunch in the restaurant adjacent to the casino, and were on their way back up when the far wall of the casino exploded. A the smoke cleared, Jack swore under his breath.

_'I knew it…I KNEW they would come here.'_ Melanie thought as five upright silhouettes, standing on flat rectangular hover-boards, slipped into the casino, then split up.

\- "Looks like Daddy's come to visit. And he's brought his new friends." Jack hissed under his breath, sounding both angry and scared. Then he turned discreetly to Melanie. "Go. If he finds you here, he's going to kill you. I'll try to get to the alarm."

\- "Be careful, Jack." She whispered. "I doubt he'll be too happy to see you if he spots you."

\- "I'll be fine." Jack replied. "You're the one who's in real danger here. Go."  
She slipped silently away, using upended tables for cover and moving as swiftly as she could towards the front of the casino.

* * *

Robert Walker looked around, a contented expression on his face. Without his damnable wife - or well, ex-wife, now - constantly comparing him to her father, the reformed Gang had flourished under his command. The success of their first heist only slightly marred by the intervention of that little girl in a costume whom his dear new Queen had so aptly dispatched, he had elected this time to strike for bigger game.

At a command, Jack, Ten, and Ace split up and began targeting various patrons, relieving them of money, jewelry, anything of value. At the same time, they filled their sacks with the takes from various tables.

In his periphery, he spotted a casino employee crawling towards the center of the building, and casually flung a card in his direction which exploded, dispersing a cloud of gas that set him coughing.  
Then, sword in hand, King made his way towards him. He experienced a moment's hesitation when he recognized in the employee his firstborn son, Jackson Walker.

"Well, well." He said, lifting Jack off the ground by one hand. "If it isn't my wayward son."  
He tossed Jack to the floor.

\- "Hello, Daddy." Jack spat. "Is that any way to treat family?"

\- "You are no family of mine, boy." King replied in a dangerous tone. He raised his blade, holding the tip of it inches from Jack's face. "In fact…"  
As he prepared to strike down his treacherous son, who had denied his heritage and betrayed the family, he caught a barely perceptible flash of movement from the corner of his eye.

He turned and discharged a blast of electrical energy, which struck the far wall, sending wreckage raining down on the patrons below, who scrambled out of the way like so many ants under his boot.

"You really need to work on your aim, your Majesty." A mocking voice said from somewhere above his head. Then there was a flash of metal, and King let out a cry of surprise and pain as something metallic cut a shallow groove in the back of his hand, forcing him to drop his weapon.

He looked up, and spotted the speaker. A young woman, masked and wearing a familiar-looking black one-piece bodysuit.

\- "You again!" He snarled. "This time you will die, girl."

King launched another attack, which Batgirl dodged easily, launching herself off the wall and using the broad, agile wings to maneuver around King.

Back astride his own hoverboard, Jack threw a volley of short, wickedly sharp knives, which she narrowly avoided. Drawing a longer blade - more a short sword than a knife - he swung at Batgirl, a hard vertical strike aimed at taking off her head.  
She engaged the electromagnetic shield and parried the attack with one forearm, then whirled and counterattacked instantly with a vicious left-booted dragon kick that slammed Jack in the gut, throwing him off the board and slamming into the wall ten feet back.

As the unconscious Jack slid to the floor, Melanie swooped down towards Ten, only to be bowled off her trajectory by Ace, who tackled her from the side, sending her flying. The impact with a support column not only hurt like hell, it dizzied Melanie for a few moments, long enough for Ace to close in, barreling towards her like a freight train.

He swung, and she blocked. One shot, then two, then Ace landed a hit that threw her, and she thought that it would probably leave a nasty bruise.  
Breathing hard, she ducked under the next blow and countered with a lightning-fast uppercut that snapped his head back, followed up with a hard, double-fisted punch to his solar plexus. A final strike, a hard hit to the side of the head, behind the right ear, knocked Ace unconscious as well. She bound his wrists and ankles with flex-cuffs she pulled from the belt.

_'Two down.'_ She thought, noting that the brief bout with Ace had clarified something that she had not quite expected, but wasn't all that surprised by.

Then she took a hard kick to the back that sent her flying. Moving with a dancer's grace, however, she regained her balance and whirled to face her opponent: Queen.  
"I suppose you didn't have enough last time, did you girl?" She asked haughtily.

\- "We'll see about that." Melanie spat in reply. Queen's sole reply was to move in and strike, hard and fast. Melanie narrowly dodged the first attack and countered, but Queen moved easily out of the way, blocking her first punch, then her second before unleashing a vicious jab aimed at Melanie's face.

Melanie shifted her head, took a glancing hit, and rolled with the punch, shifting her position before dropping and unleashing a low, sweeping kick that, had Queen not jumped, would have thrown her off her feet.

Queen backflipped, landing on her feet, and closed in again.  
In a distant corner of her mind, Melanie that she had the advantage in speed and strength by a long way, but Queen more than made up for it in skill and viciousness.

She also noted King's reluctance to get involved. Then things got worse, as Ten moved in as well, attacking Melanie from behind while she was occupied by Queen. She went airborne, avoiding the attack entirely and simultaneously opening up the range on her opponents.

Casino security at that moment attacked, firing on Ten and Queen, who were forced to evade, until King launched a volley of concussive playing cards that detonated at the guards' feet, incapacitating them.  
Thankfully, this bought Melanie a few seconds' breathing room.

Ten was closest to Batgirl, so she rushed in first, but Queen was not far behind, and closed in as well. Melanie kept an eye on Queen, but focused on Ten, blocking a jab aimed at her face, and nimbly avoiding a hard kick that had it connected would probably have knocked the wind out of her.

Ten's next attack was another punch, again aimed at her face. Melanie dodged, caught Ten's forearm with one hand, and with the other delivered a knockout blow to the side of the head. Then she used her leverage to flip the unconscious Ten over her shoulder and throw her straight at Queen. The two collided and hit the floor in a heap.

Then an electromagnetic blast from King struck Melanie directly, though she felt nothing, protected as she was by the suit's insulation. King had retrieved his blade, and when she threw a batarang at him, this time he countered with the sword, batting the weapon away.

She saw Jack dragging himself to his feet, even as Queen threw aside the unconscious Ten and stood, while some distance away Ace broke out of the flex-cuffs, standing as well.  
\- "You've done reasonably well for some little girl playing at Batman," King said menacingly as he drew near, "but you are going to die."

\- "I don't think so." Batgirl replied, smirking. At that second, every door into the casino opened and BPD tactical units flooded the casino, led by a tall, handsome older man wearing a vest and armed with a heavy pistol.

_'You're late, boys.'_ She thought. Then she hit the suit's cloaking systems and disappeared.

But not fast enough for the sharp-eyed leader of the tactical strike force - Commissioner Greyson - to catch a glimpse of her. And Grayson grinned, knowing what he'd seen. But he ordered his men to open fire on the gang, which they did. Ace picked up the unconscious Ten, while Jack and King engaged the cops directly, firing explosive cards and daggers at them, long enough for Queen to get to her hoverboard, and then the gang retreated, escaping through the nearest window, which Ace bulled open.

Grayson ordered his men outside to pursue, while the tac teams inside cordoned off the casino.  
He spotted Jack Walker looking terrified, on the ground near one of the upended tables, and made a mental note to ask Babs to check on the sister's alibi.  
Soon, he had to revise that plan when Melanie herself, wearing a long, silk sheath dress and looking distinctly disheveled, clambered out from behind the coat check counter, clutching a cellphone in one hand.

"JACK!" she yelled, and ran towards him. She was barefoot - she'd broken the heel of one of her shoes, which irritated her - it was her only pair of dress shoes. But at the moment, she was more worried about her brother.  
"Are you all right?" She asked, ignoring the BPD officer who'd been taking Jack's statement.

\- "Quite. And you?"

\- "I'm fine. I went to try and find my phone in my bag to call the police, and then I couldn't get out. So I took cover and waited."

The cop finished with Jack, then took her statement. Her story was simple: She'd clambered behind the front counter and into the area where checked coats and bags were kept, where she had gotten her phone out of her bag. Then, she had called the police, and stayed there until she heard them arrive.

Finally, they were released, and Mulcahy insisted that Jack go home - he would deal with the police and the rest. So they left, Melanie retrieving her coat and bag on the way out.

That evening, she prepared to leave, packing her belongings back into her suitcase. Jack followed her as far as the train station.  
\- "It was good seeing you again, sis." Jack said sincerely.

\- "Same." Melanie replied. "We'll have to do it again sometime. Hopefully, next time without the unnecessary visit by Dad and his new friends." She couldn't keep a bitter edge out of her voice.

\- "Well, I'd have to say I'd agree. He was going to kill me, you know? But whoever that was dressed in a Batsuit, she saved my life. Didn't get to say thank you, more's the pity."

\- "That's good to hear." Melanie said, smiling. "But maybe she'll turn up again and you can thank her then. Anyway, they're calling my train." She kissed her brother on the cheek, and bade him good-bye.

\- "Safe trip home, sis." Jack said.

\- "Thanks."

* * *

A short distance south of Gotham City, approximately twenty miles off the coast of Metropolis, is a five-hundred acre island on which is built the largest and most secure jail in the country: Stryker's Island Maximum Security Detention Center. More than five times the size of Gotham City's Stonegate Penitentiary, this super-max prison is a virtual fortress that is used to hold most death row inmates, repeat offenders, or those convicted of especially violent crimes, as well as most metahuman criminals.

It was in a cell in the East wing of this gigantic complex that a middle-aged woman sat in solitude in her cell, contemplating the depths to which she had fallen.

She was an elegant woman, tall and slender, and had once been quite beautiful. But her incarceration, and other reasons beside, had taken a toll. Her long, once lustrous blonde hair was straggly and unkempt. The look in her blue eyes was hollow, listless.

Her name was Donna Elizabeth Walker, and she sat on her bunk in the dark, alone and miserable.  
Once, she had been a Queen, the latest heiress of an illustrious bloodline. She had had everything. Now, she had nothing - fortune, freedom, happiness. Her family. She had lost it all.

She wondered what her father, the previous King of the Royal Flush Gang, or her mother, who had preceded her as Queen, would say if they could see her now: Scorned and betrayed by her husband, forsaken by her children, alone in a dark prison cell, alone with the thought of how her life had been ruined.

She hated Stryker's, and she hated Metropolis. But there was one place she hated more than any other, the most wretched hellhole of a city on the face of this Earth: Gotham City.  
She hated Gotham with every fiber of her being, because it was in that place that everything had started to fall apart.

First, she had lost her beloved daughter, who had turned her back on them and severed all ties with her family. That had been more than three years earlier, and it had all started when the family first returned to Gotham City, some time before then.

At the insistence of her husband, who had succeeded her father as King, they had moved on, and from then on the role of Ten had been empty, the Gang incomplete. He had demanded that they never mention it again, and her former responsibilities had fallen to her brother, Jack.

Then there was that entire scheme concocted by her husband - the faked abduction. It had been a ploy to try to bring Melanie back into the fold. Donna Walker had been desperate, and had gone along with the plan in the hopes that she could get her dear daughter back. That it would bring them together again.

Instead, it had driven her even further away, and she doubted now that the rift that had torn their family apart could ever be mended.

Then her husband had betrayed her, hatching a scheme to throw her and Jack to the wolves so that he could run off with that little slut he had taken as his mistress.  
After they were convicted and incarcerated, she had tried to murder him in revenge - had, in fact, very nearly succeeded. If she could have just killed the treacherous bastard, even this would have been worth it. But she had failed, and then she was transferred to this hellhole.

Not long after that Jack had gotten out of prison, and he visited every once in a while, or else he called.  
The worst of all, the most painful had been her daughter's loss. She loved Melanie, and had wanted nothing except for her to be happy. She had tried so hard, to give her the same life, the same opportunities that her own mother had given to her, so that she could one day see her daughter crowned Queen in turn.

But something had happened that had driven a wedge between them. Vaguely, she dimly recalled a conversation between them, in which Melanie had mentioned having met a boy. She wondered if that had anything to do with it. Not, she reflected dejectedly, that it mattered.  
Though they were briefly imprisoned together, Melanie had made it perfectly clear that she wanted nothing more to do with them. Ever again. And then on the day she was granted parole, she had walked out of the courtroom without so much as a single glance back.

She had never seen her daughter since that day.

A Queen, a mother. She had been happy. And now she had nothing and no one.

So it was with great surprise that she found her cell door opening, and an armed security guard - a big, bullish brute of a man - stood in the doorway.

"You've got a visitor, your Highness." He said scornfully.  
She stood wordlessly, unwilling to muster even the energy to reply. He handcuffed her, of course. Not that it mattered.

Then she walked from the cell, with the security guard following a couple of steps behind. She entered the room where inmates were permitted to speak to their visitors, separated by a thick pane of bulletproof plexiglas. And when she saw who sat in the chair on the other side, her breath caught in her throat.

She sat down, and found herself looking into keen, ice-blue eyes that were a mirror of her own. And then at last Donna Walker heard a voice she had thought she would never hear again.

"Hello, mother." Melanie Walker said softly.


	13. 13: Family Ties

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **So, here's the next chapter, which directly follows up on the previous one.  
As ever, please R&amp;R. I appreciate it. Thanks!

* * *

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 13**

**STRYKER'S ISLAND MAXIMUM SECURITY DETENTION CENTER**

Donna Walker sat down, and for several moments did not speak. All she could do was to look at the willowy, beautiful young woman seated on the other side of the glass.  
She looked so much like Donna had herself as a young woman, it was almost startling. But there was a hardness in her expression, especially in the cool blue eyes, that caused an involuntary shiver.

"Melanie." She said, still not believing it. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again. It's been…more than three years."

\- "I know." Melanie replied flatly, looking across the bulletproof plexiglas at her mother. Her appearance had changed; her hair had lost its luster, her eyes dim, and there were lines on her face that had not been there a scant few years before. It was difficult to believe that her beautiful, elegant mother could have been reduced to this.

\- "How are you doing?" Donna Walker asked, with a hint of bitterness.

\- "Well enough." Melanie said. "I have a job - it's not much, but it's legal, and it pays the bills. I'm taking classes at Gotham State University. And I'm in a relationship with someone."

\- "Are you?" Donna asked, looking surprised. She wondered vaguely who it might be, and how much this someone knew about her daughter.

Melanie guessed her mother's train of thought.  
\- "Oh, he knows all about what I used to be." Melanie said, subtly emphasizing the end of the phrase. "But unlike some people, Terry not only trusts me, he loves me for who I am."

Donna Walker knew what her daughter meant by that rebuke. It was the faked abduction - when they had compelled Melanie to steal again by way of a message falsely claiming they had been abducted by Jokerz.  
\- "Melanie, I…" she started to say, and hesitated. She sighed. "you are my daughter, and I love you. I…"

\- "Don't. even start." Melanie interrupted harshly. "What was best for me? You lied to me! You tricked me into stealing for you. That's not something you do to someone you love."

\- "Melanie," Donna continued, increasingly distressed, "All I ever wanted was what was best for you, to give you the same opportunities, the same chance to be happy that I was given."

\- "That's what _you_ wanted for me. But did you ever ask yourself whether that's what _I_ wanted? No, you didn't. You didn't give a damn - you just wanted me to be Ten, and maybe eventually to take you place when you got too old to steal for yourself."

Donna Walker's expression showed plainly how much her daughter's words hurt.

She loved her daughter so much, and Melanie, it was plain, hated her. But Donna Walker was a product of her own upbringing, within the tightly-knit, secretive family that had been the previous Royal Flush Gang. She and her parents had recruited that Gang's Ace and Jack, one of whom she had eventually married, becoming the new Queen and King, respectively.  
But far too late she realized that her beautiful, free-spirited daughter, however much she looked like her mother, was cut from wholly different cloth.  
\- "Melanie," she began to saw slowly, "I know what we did was dishonest. I can't blame you for that. But you have to believe me when I say that everything I did, I did because I love you."

Slightly mollified, Melanie relaxed somewhat. She recognized the pain she heard in her mother's tone, because it was the same she had felt herself at their betrayal. And just as in spite of everything, she had always retained some small vestige of affection for her mother, she knew now that whatever else, her mother's own love, however misguided, was genuine.  
\- "I went to see Jack in Blüdhaven - he told me you were transferred here." She said.

\- "Yes, your father and I were imprisoned together at Stonegate in Gotham City," she said with marked distaste, "until I tried to kill the adulterous bastard. He cheated on me, and worse tried to throw me to the dogs to run off with that little strumpet."

\- "And now here you are in the most secure prison in the country." Melanie said flatly. "Meanwhile, he has escaped and re-formed the Royal Flush Gang." - "WHAT?" Donna Walker exclaimed angrily. "That filthy, treacherous…the Royal Flush Gang is MY bloodline, not his! The worm had no right to usurp…"

\- "All due respect, Mom, the Royal Flush Gang is _finished_." Melanie replied sharply. Her mother's reaction was a little disappointing, but hardly surprising; the Gang had been her mother's entire life. But now it was over, and the sooner she realized that, the better.  
"He tried to kill Jack, you know." Melanie continued, and her mother's jaw dropped, her expression shocked. "Jack invited me to see the casino he works at, so I went with him today, and the Gang attacked the casino. He nearly killed Jack. Probably would've killed me if he'd had the chance."

This seemed to anger her mother even more. - "That bastard…Oh, I'll make him pay for this outrage if it's the last thing I do."

\- "Well," Melanie replied, "there's really only one way to do that."

The conversation lasted perhaps another ten minutes. It wasn't a reconciliation - there was still too much bad blood for that.  
But it was a start. And when Melanie finally stood to leave, her mother looked at her one final time.

\- "Melanie," she pleaded. "After everything that's happened, will you ever forgive me?"

\- "Maybe." Melanie said, all traces of her earlier anger gone from her tone. "But that's up to you."

As she left the prison, she thought about what her mother had suffered, and her own conflicted feelings. And she reflected that, whatever else, Jack had been right. And so was Terry.  
Melanie had been given a second chance, and had turned her life around. So had Jack. She guessed her mother at least deserved the opportunity.

* * *

**GOTHAM CITY**

Barbara Gordon sat at a corner table of the diner, nursing a cup of coffee and a headache.

The mayor had been breathing down her neck for days over the Chesterfield break-in, and they were still no closer to catching the Gang. GCPD had conducted discreet raids at every known Royal Flush Gang hideout in Gotham and the surrounding area, with no success. And now, she'd gotten word that the gang had hit outside Gotham, just down the coast in Blüdhaven.

Dressed in a dark sports coat, white shirt, and slacks, Dick Grayson walked in the door, smiled, and headed for her table.  
"Sorry - traffic on the I4 was terrible." He said easily.

\- "Actually," Barbara said, checking her watch, "you're right on time."

\- "And yet you're still here before me?" He asked. "The more things change…"

\- "The more they stay the same, apparently." She replied.

\- "So, how's Sam doing?" Dick asked.

\- "His shoulder's been bothering him, and he has a doctor's appointment in the morning." she replied. "But he's doing fine. We both are."

\- "Good." Dick replied. " I'm glad. I always liked Sam."

\- "Wow," Barbara said with a hint of sarcasm. "You _almost_ said that with a straight face." After a while, she continued. "I don't suppose you came up here to talk about old times."

\- "Nope. This is professional." Dick replied. "We had a little run-in today with the Royal Flush Gang in Blüdhaven. They hit a casino called the Queen of Spades."

\- "I'd heard." Barbara said. "Any casualties?"

\- "A few minor injuries. Mostly property damage, and they got out with a small take." He said. "We'd talked to the Walker kid after you called me about Chesterfield's, but he alibi's out. Security vid feeds put him at the Queen working the graveyard shift during the heist."

\- "GCPD scrapped Ace the last time the Gang got caught, and we've confirmed Donna Walker's still at Stryker's Island." Barbara revealed. "Still working on ID'ing Ace, Jack, and Ten, but Queen is probably Sable Thorpe, King's accomplice during the Paxton Powers business."

\- "Okay." Dick nodded. "The other Walker kid - Melanie? She alibis out for the Spades heist - security vids at the casino put both her and her brother already inside when the Gang arrived."

\- "She was in Blüdhaven?" Barbara asked, surprised.

\- "Yeah - visiting her brother, near as I can tell." Dick replied. "Anyway, she's apparently the one who called the police when the Gang bust into the casino. Thanks to that, I was able to get a couple of tac teams over and prevent the Gang doing too much damage. Well, that and we had a little…unexpected help."

Barbara frowned at this cryptic statement.  
\- "What do you mean, Dick?" she asked, "what kind of help."

\- "Somebody got in there and was tangling with the gang before we arrived. Incapacitated two of them, and was tangling with King when BPD tac teams entered the casino. She disappeared in the confusion afterwards."

\- "She?" Barbara questioned.  
Dick slipped a hand in the pocket of his coat and produced a still-frame print out from the casino's high-resolution security vid cameras, taken during the heist.

\- "Yeah." He said, with a sly grin. "She. We got her on the security vid feeds, though. Here, I thought you'd find this interesting." Barbara Gordon's frown deepened when she saw the photograph.

\- "Thanks for the head's up, Dick." She said. "You'll keep me posted if anything else turns up?"

\- "Sure thing, if you'll do the same, Babs." She smiled, shaking her head.

\- "You ought to look in on Bruce and Tim." she said. "I'm sure they'd be glad to see you."

\- "Tim, maybe." He said. "The old man, possibly not so much. But maybe next time I will."  
And with that, Dick Grayson left. Barbara paid the tab and did likewise, heading home, pondering what she had just learned…

* * *

Several days had gone by since her return to Gotham, and Melanie had rarely been busier. Winter Break had ended and classes were back in session. Between that and her recent…extra-curricular activities, she had been forced to cut back on her hours at the Kitchen.  
That was all right; she'd worked as many extra shifts over break as she could, so even with the cost of her trip she'd built up her savings a bit.

The day after she got back, the Queen of Spades break-in had been front-page news in every newspaper in both cities, many of them headlining with a rather flattering photograph of her in flight, evidently taken during her engagement in the casino.  
It was this photograph that was now the subject of an animated discussion between Melanie, Max, and mutual friend Chelsea.

\- "So, there's a Batgirl now, huh?" Max asked, feigning disinterest.

\- "Yeah, in Blüdhaven - which is just a little bit down the coast from here!" Chelsea replied. "Kind of weird - Gotham was always Batman's turf, and from what I've read from old net articles, Batgirl - the first one - was here too."

\- "Yeah," Melanie replied, "but that was what, fifty, sixty years ago? Maybe whoever this new Batgirl is or whatever is from there."

\- "I don't think so." Chelsea replied. "Because I heard rumors she's been spotted here in Gotham, too. What do you think, Max?"

"I dunno, girl." Max replied. "I mean, we got Batman already, right?"

\- "What I'm really wondering is," Chelsea continued, "who is it? And if Batman knows who it is."

\- "I'm sure he does." Melanie commented casually, her expression neutral. "Not that I personally care." They continued discussing the subject, their conversation ranging from how long this Batgirl had really been around to the possibility of whether it had been a girl the entire time - Max squelched that one fast, pointing out the time Batman had turned up at their High School once, and that it was definitely a guy then.

\- "Anyway," Max said, "I wonder what Terry'd think about all this."

\- "Yeah, that's true." Chelsea asked. "Hey, how is Terry doing these days?"

\- "Doing much better." Melanie replied. "I was really worried for a while, but it looks like he'll recover just fine. I'm going to be going with Mrs. McGinnis and Matt to visit him later."

\- "Glad to hear that." Chelsea replied. "Hey, tell him I said hi, okay?"

\- "Sure thing, Chels." Melanie said with a smile.

"Not that you personally care, huh?" Max later said in an undertone as the two headed for their next class. "That was pretty good."

\- "Yeah, well, it's no big mystery, is it?" Melanie countered.

\- "True." Max replied with a grin, as the two separated and went to their respective seats in class.

* * *

Later, Melanie, Matt, and Mrs. McGinnis were all clustered around Terry's bed, as he announced that except for his leg, his injuries were just about completely healed, and that he expected to be going home soon.  
\- "Honey, that's wonderful." Mary exclaimed, looking overjoyed. Matt just shrugged. Melanie looked relieved as well.

\- "Hey, Terry, have you seen the news?" Matt suddenly exclaimed. "There's a Bat_girl_ now!"

\- "Really?" Terry said, feigning surprise. "I wonder what Batman'd have to say to that."

\- "Dunno. Maybe it's his girlfriend or something." Matt said. "Still, kinda cool, right?"

\- "Uh-huh." Terry said vaguely. Of the four people currently in the room, Matt was the only one who still did not know the truth about Terry's dual identity. Mary McGinnis sent Matt off to get some fizz at the nearest vending machine down the hall, and asked him to bring her back a bottle of water. While he was gone, she turned to Terry.

\- "I suppose you do know something about this, Terry." She inquired. "Who this new "Batgirl" is that's running around in your place." Terry understood why she was asking; Terry's self-appointed task was enormously dangerous, and Mary McGinnis was concerned that he might have asked someone to take them on.

\- "Matter of fact, I know exactly who it is, and believe me I had nothing to do with it."

\- "Really?" Mary replied, sounding skeptical.

\- "He really didn't." Melanie intervened, and Mary looked from her son to his lover with some surprise. "He didn't even know about it until I told him I did it."

\- "You, Melanie?" Mary asked, and Melanie simply nodded. And she briefly explained her reasons.

\- "Like I said before though, I'm gonna want it back once I get out of here." Terry commented, and they laughed.

\- "What's so funny?" Matt asked as he returned.

\- "Nothing too important, Matt." Terry commented. "Maybe I'll tell you later."

Mrs. McGinnis and Matt left soon afterwards, and Melanie revealed the outcome of her trip to Blüdhaven, and the subsequent visit she had made to Stryker's Island.  
\- "I just…I don't know, Terry. I think maybe I might have been too harsh with her." She said. "But afterwards…"

\- "You reached out." He said. "After the things she and your Dad did, I can understand why you would've been upset. But you're giving her a chance to make things right. And that's really all you can do."

\- "Thanks. I mean, after everything…the truth is, what they did to me? What Dad did to her is just as bad. Maybe that's why."

\- "Yeah." He said. "But you did your best. Now we'll just have to see what happens. But either way, you'll always have a family here."

That night after her shift at the Kitchen, Melanie returned home to the apartment she normally shared with Terry, thinking about what he had said. And she felt more relaxed than she had since her father's gang had surfaced.

As she stood at the open window, she took a deep breath.  
"It's good to be home." She muttered. Then she pulled the cowl down over her face, triggering the suit's cloaking systems, and slipped out, closing the window behind her.

Then, invisible, she took off into the night.


	14. 14: Batgirl

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 14**

"Bye, Cal!" Melanie called out as she headed for the door. "See you tomorrow."

\- "See ya, Mel!" Cal Hobbes called out from where he was working in the kitchen.

Melanie left Deckard's Kitchen, hefting her bag over her shoulder. Inside that bag was the Batsuit, among other things. She didn't think she would be needing it though, until later tonight.

Today, like she had more and more often these days, Melanie had worked only a half-shift at the Kitchen. With winter break over and classes back, plus her night job, she simply didn't have as much time as she used to.  
She tried to make up for it by working week-ends as much as possible, but her expenses, few though they were, were starting to eat into what savings she had managed to build up working extra shifts over break.

She sighed wearily. The sooner Terry was out of the hospital, the better. Once he was out, they could figure out the next step.  
Of course, she had promised both Terry and Wayne to return the suit once Terry was better, but she was starting to have second thoughts now. She shook her head, and finally reached the station. She would catch the R train and ride it as far as it went. Her ride would be waiting for her there. After she was done for the night, she would be able to head straight home from there.

* * *

She was good, he would give her that. However begrudgingly, as he watched her weave her way through the complex course with remarkable agility and grace, he admitted that she had skill.  
And in the time since she had come under his reluctant tutelage, she had only gotten better.

At Bruce's insistence, Terry regularly spent time training in the cave, under his supervision. After the severe beating the Walker girl had taken at Chesterfield's, Wayne had demanded that she do the same.

Moreover, she did so without the benefits provided by the suit. Terry had started that practice the previous year, in order to maximize the effect of their increasingly rigorous training session and reduce dependence on the suit's technology, in case he ever needed to act without its benefits.

Wayne had insisted that she do the same, so she ran the course wearing a tank top and light, loose pants, with lightweight sneakers.

Rather than the usual holographic simulation, he was putting her through a complex obstacle course in a farther area of the cave, which had been in place for decades. Tim, Dick, even Barbara had all trained on it. Terry had taken to using it occasionally as well. Since then, he had made adjustments, including incorporating training synthoids armed with forearm-mounted low-powered lasers identical to those that dotted the course, mounted to swiveling bases on the ceiling or concealed in the floors or walls. A hit from one of those guns stung and left a superficial welt, but did no real damage.

It was her fifth consecutive run that evening. As she ran, one of the training synthoids fired on her. She moved nimbly out of its line of fire, but her next move caught Wayne by surprise. She moved in close, trapped its arm, and leaped into a lightning-quick flying arm bar takedown that immobilized the synthoid, before dropping it to the floor.

The synthoid shut down and she was moving again as the ceiling-mounted cannons opened fire. She danced gracefully across the course, narrowly avoiding the beams, and continued without a glance back, taking a flying leap that carried her over a second synthoid and up to the next section of the course, weaving through it with ease.

Then he heard footsteps behind him. He said nothing yet, though he knew precisely who it was.  
"You want to explain to me what the hell's going on, Bruce?"

His chair swiveled, and he looked up to Commissioner Barbara Gordon.  
\- "Barbara." Bruce replied evenly.

\- "Another juvenile delinquent, Bruce?" Barbara asked. "And not just that, but a convicted felon. Are you out of your mind?"

Bruce raised an eyebrow. The two of them didn't exactly see eye to eye on the continued presence of a vigilante in Gotham, and it wasn't the first time they had argued about it.  
While Barbara was every bit as brilliant a cop as her father had been, she had long been highly critical of vigilante intervention in Gotham City, in spite of - or perhaps because of her own history.

Barbara didn't think Gotham _needed_ Batman, and found the idea that anyone could think that Gotham City Police - her police - could be considered so inept that it couldn't do without some kid in a costume insulting.

They had first argued about it years earlier, when Terry first took up the mantle of the Batman.  
Inexperienced, he had caused some problems, but in spite of that Barbara had tolerated - somewhat grudgingly - his continued activity because he had proven his worth when he saved her life and that of her husband, District Attorney Sam Young.

\- "No, I am not." Bruce said evenly. "And in any case, I didn't put her up to this any more than I put McGinnis up to it in the first place."

\- "Is that a fact?" Gordon replied cuttingly.

\- "Barbara, how long have we known each other?" Bruce asked. "Do you honestly think I would willingly give a thief access to that kind of technology? She's the one who took it."

\- "And you _let her_?" Barbara retorted incredulously.

\- "Temporarily." Wayne conceded. "Let me ask you a question, though. I assume you checked her out after the Chesterfield heist a few weeks ago?"

\- "I did." She replied. "No alibi - but we talked to her old P.O., and he didn't have anything to say about her - no complaints, no violations. No contact with family except the brother after he got out. Detective Alcana was certain she was clean."

\- "And you trust his judgement." Wayne replied. It wasn't a question. Both knew that Miguel Alcana - himself the son of a former Gotham City cop, like the recently-promoted Detective Montoya - was one of the best detectives in the GCPD, and one who was well on his way to a precinct command of his own. "Besides," Wayne continued, "Besides, don't think I haven't taken every precaution to keep the situation under control."

Barbara scoffed at that, still frowning. Her expression made clear that she didn't like this situation.

Objectively, the biggest problem she had was a personal one. She had created the Batgirl persona in a bid to protect her father, decades earlier, from a man who would have destroyed him, a crooked cop who was a cat's paw for the mob. And over the years, Batgirl had grown to be a symbol, on par with Batman and Robin. The years she had spent as Batgirl, both before and after Dick's departure, had been some of the best years of her life.

Even after what had happened with Tim and she had hung up the mantle, it still meant something. Now, to see that legacy dragged through the mud by a criminal playing vigilante…that was the worst affront to her.

"To be honest, I don't like it either." Bruce commented.

\- "Then why didn't you force her to stop?" Barbara asked.

\- "Because she did it for the same reasons you did."

The comment surprised her. _'  
For the same reason…'_ she thought. And then she realized what he meant - the McGinnis kid. She still didn't like it. But all the same, as she watched. And in spite of herself, she had to admire the dexterity and finesse of the girl's movements. And now, her lack of an alibi for the Chesterfield robbery made sense.

\- "I have to admit though," Barbara said, watching as the Walker kid completed the course and the computer calculated and displayed her score, "she is pretty good."  
Wayne's reply was a noncommittal grunt.

Fishing in her pocket, Barbara Gordon withdrew a batarang, recovered from Chesterfield's by Detective Alcana. She flicked it open and threw it, the projectile aimed squarely at the blonde head fifty meters away. Melanie's hand shot up and she caught it between two fingers without even looking up.  
"All the same, I still can't believe you let her of all people keep doing this." Barbara commented, visibly impressed.

Melanie, who overheard Gordon's comment, let out a derisive laugh.

\- "As if." Melanie said as she approached, her tone slightly mocking. "If Wayne'd had his way, there wouldn't have been anyone out there until Terry was out of the hospital."  
She casually tossed the batarang underhanded, and it landed flat on the console with a metallic clang.

Barbara scowled. She recognized the challenge, and guessed that Bruce had something to do with that.

"You know," Melanie said, now addressing Barbara directly. "Since I started doing this I wondered who my predecessor was. Somehow, I'm not surprised to learn it was you."

Barbara's scowl deepened.  
\- "So you knew, then." She said. "About all of this."

\- "Terry and I have been dating for over a year. Of course I knew." Melanie replied flatly. "He told me about it when we first got together again. And if you have a problem with that - tough."

Several tense seconds passed, during which the two women glared at each other, neither one speaking.  
"When did you figure it out?" Melanie finally asked.

\- "After the Spades heist, checking over the security vid footage." Gordon replied. "There're no security cameras inside the coat check area where you went. But the so-called "Batgirl" doesn't turn up until after the 9-1-1 call. And you don't reappear until after Blüdhaven PD enters the casino, long after her disappearance. It isn't a difficult conclusion to reach."

Melanie nodded - it made sense.  
\- "After Terry's accident, while he was in the hospital…well, I decided to do this in his place, until he recovers; the only reason Wayne allowed it is because I didn't give him a choice in the matter - that, and the fact I saved his ass when he got jumped by Jokerz in Crime Alley."

An irritated expression on his face, Wayne stood, grabbing his cane, and made his way from his console over to the main computer.

"I suppose you've been investigating the Royal Flush Gang." He said, addressing Barbara.

\- "Obviously." Barbara replied. "King and Queen are accounted for, and with the synthoid scrapped years ago, we've been focusing on ID'ing Ace, Jack, and Ten."

\- "So have I." Wayne replied, and brought up a pair of images. "Wyatt Trantel - the new Jack. Shared a cell with Walker at Stonegate, where he was doing twenty-five for a murder conviction - stabbed his victim in the back."

\- "Right. It looks like they broke out at the same time - Thorpe was already out by then, and I would guess that she helped them get out." Barbara added. "The other one's Chet O'Keefe; ex-Army Ranger turned professional thief. Not much of a rap sheet, but he's recently out after doing seven years for third-degree robbery. Clearly, the new Ace."

Bruce nodded.  
\- "That leaves Ten. From what I remember about the O'Keefe case, there was evidence that O'Keefe's daughter may have been involved in his crime, but it could never be proven."

\- "Correct - the evidence was circumstantial, and there wasn't much of it. Still, given her computer expertise, she's likely the new Ten." Barbara concurred, glancing to Melanie, who frowned, her arms crossed. "So the Gang is basically identified. The other avenue we've been pursuing is identifying where they're hiding out."

\- "Well, I can't there." Melanie replied sarcastically. "I left the Gang years ago, and you can bet they won't be using any hideout I would know about."

\- "That's true," Wayne supplied unexpectedly, "but there is one person who might be able to."

\- "My mother." Melanie replied, guessing what Wayne was alluding to. He nodded.

\- "The Royal Flush Gang is her heritage - her father was the previous King." Wayne replied, surprising Melanie only momentarily as he revealed how much he knew, before she remembered he was, as she had once mockingly taunted, the world's greatest detective. Or had been. "She would know more about it than anyone."

\- "That's true," Barbara conceded. "Unfortunately, it's going to be difficult to ask her."

\- "Why is that?" Melanie asked.

\- "Because I was notified earlier today that Donna Walker has escaped from Stryker's."

-_ "WHAT?!"_ Melanie and Wayne exclaimed almost simultaneously. Of their reactions, Melanie's is the one Barbara watched most closely.  
An experienced officer and a skilled interrogator, she was extremely adept at reading people. And to her eye, Melanie's surprise was genuine. Moreover, she sensed that Melanie was saddened by this development.

She was close. Melanie was torn between her shock at the news, and disappointment. After their admittedly contentious conversation during her last visit, Melanie had held out hope that a reconciliation might be possible, however difficult.

But if her mother had broken out, there was only one reason: To go after her father.  
\- "How is that possible?" Melanie asked after a moment.

\- "We're still investigating that at the moment." Barbara said simply. "She overpowered one of the security guards and used his ID to get into the hangar, where she stole a boat that she took back to the mainland. Metropolis PD found the boat abandoned in the harbor - we assume she had transportation waiting there, and is now one the run."

\- "Where would she have gotten transportation, though? And how was she able to get that far in the first place? I think it is strange that she managed all of that on her own." Bruce commented carefully, a skeptical expression on his face. "It's nearly impossible to break out of Stryker's even with substantial outside assistance. And I find it extremely unlikely that she could have had that kind of backup. Certainly, it wasn't her husband."

\- "Obviously," Barbara replied evasively, "she did have outside assistance. We're coordinating with Metropolis PD to investigate the break-out and identify her accomplices, and I've also deployed assets to locate and recapture her. But at the moment, she's not our priority."

\- "She's not." Bruce consented, but his expression made it clear he didn't buy Gordon's dodge. That said, he did not call her out on it. He knew she had a plan, and had Barbara guessed correctly that he'd decided to let it play out.  
"The greater threat is still the new Royal Flush Gang." He continued.

\- "I agree" Melanie said after a moment's hesitation, stepping forward. "And we know who they are. So the real question is where are they going to hit next."

\- "And I suppose you know?" Barbara asked skeptically.

\- "Let's just say I've been giving it some thought." She said icily. She had spoken with Max again after returning from Blüdhaven, and they had spent hours together going over the likeliest targets, refining their list.

And Melanie knew her father's ego - she knew that after the Spades, he would go after something bigger, more grandiose. She walked up to the broad computer console and started typing, bringing up a map of the city and its surroundings, then indicating the five likeliest targets she and Max had come up with.

Wayne simply stared, his expression making it clear that he was torn between being irritated at the girl for having the gall to be using his computer like she owned it, and begrudgingly impressed at what she was telling them.

"These are the five likeliest targets based on the Gang's M.O. and what we know about them." Melanie said. "My father is an egomaniac - he wants to be noticed, to be in the spotlight. So I think it's a safe bet that the next place the Gang hits will be here."

And there was silence as the three of them pondered the ramifications of this next attack, and how they would be able to stop the Gang…


	15. 15: The High Card

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 15**

At 850 feet long and displacing only slightly over 70,000 tons, the ten-deck cruise ship _High Card_ was far from the largest vessel of its kind ever constructed, but it was certainly the most talked-about for decades. With a maximum capacity of merely 1,500 passengers and a crew of 700, it was nonetheless more than merely a cruise ship: an enormous floating casino resort, it rivaled the most opulent such establishments on land. Multiple restaurants and casinos, a full-sized shopping center, and a variety of other forms of entertainment including a full-size theater made it was the greatest destination resort afloat - for those who could afford it.

Constructed by a consortium of businesses and individual patrons including Gotham's Vreeland family, the _High Card_ was designed to cater primarily to the financial élite, the wealthiest men and women in the world.  
Among the guests aboard for the launching ceremony were the mayor, the governor, and a number of other government officials as well as District Attorney Sam Young, all with their wives. Also attending were the CEOs of some of the largest firms in the nation including Metropolis's LexCorp and its primary competitor, Wayne-Fox Technologies.

Wayne himself was present, wearing an expression of marked distaste in spite of the fact that its power plant and propulsion, including the ducted azimuth thrusters that moved it, giving it maneuverability beyond most ships its size, had been constructed by Wayne-Fox. With Terry in the hospital, he had as usual driven himself. Though as he spoke with the other guests, some of whom he had known for a long time, he spotted tough, younger men and women who despite their attire looked slightly out of place among the upper-class guests.  
_'Barbara…'_ He thought, smiling grimly. Undercover GCPD officers, he realized, quietly providing additional security in case something happened. Which it would.

Commissioner Gordon, however, was not smiling.

She scanned the crowd periodically, checking in regularly with her undercovers. In spite of this, when she heard the outcry and looked up to see four white-clad figures approaching the ship astride giant playing cards, she swore under her breath.

"This is Gordon. The party crashers are here - converge on the bow and as soon as you have a shot, take it." She muttered into her concealed comm line.

Through the crowd, she could see the armed gang members as they systematically moved through the crowd, robbing the attendees.  
_'King, Queen, Jack, and Ten…where the hell's Ace?'_

Unbeknownst to Barbara, a second pair of eyes, from a position high above, was wondering the same thing.  
_'Are they holding Ace in reserve? No, I'm sure it's something else.' _

She'd been in position since before the launching ceremony for the High Card began, having quietly infiltrated the ship already suited up, making her way to one of the uppermost decks. From there, she watched and waited as the preparations began, monitoring GCPD signal traffic. She knew tac teams had cordoned off the docks, with several sentries positioned ashore to watch for anybody approaching from the city.

She had suspected that her father and his cronies would not be so obliging as to make it easy for them; they hadn't - they had approached from the coast.

_'I'd guess they slipped past the cordon somehow, and then took off.'_ She thought.

She knew they hadn't been onboard. After leaving following the confrontation with Wayne and Gordon a couple of days earlier, she had used a public terminal in a coffee shop downtown to hack the guest list, including photos, and had carefully reviewed them. At the same time, she'd inserted a fabricated employee profile that had enabled her to spend the entirety of the previous day onboard the Card, posing as a member of her crew. She'd quietly gone over the ship from bow to stern, everywhere she could get access to. The ship was clean, and there was nowhere the Gang could've concealed their equipment.

Now, here she was, and there they were. Ace's absence bothered her more than anything else, because it meant he was unaccounted for - a wild card, as it were.

She _hated_ wild cards.

Scanning the crowd, she ID'd GCPD's Detectives Montoya and Alcana, the latter wearing an elegant black tux, the former an absolutely stunning red gown. Both cops were moving innocuously through the panicking crowd, closer to the gang. Throughout the mass, she saw others doing the same.

_'Too slow, and they're too scattered. It'll take too long before they can get a clear shot. Guess it's time for me to make my move.'  
_And move she did, a thruster-assisted dive that sent her barreling straight into King's back, bowling him over and sending him rolling indignantly across the floor until he slammed into the balustrade.

"You again!" King snarled when he recognized his opponent as the same one who had foiled them in Blüdhaven. He clambered to his feet and unsheathed his blade, but she was too far away for him to strike directly, and he knew she was impervious to his electromagnetic attacks.

Ten was the first to attack, moving in straight at Batgirl with a high kick aimed at her head. Melanie dropped and countered with a vicious dragon sweep takedown, simultaneously avoiding the attack and kicking Ten's ankle out from under her and dropping her on her ass.

\- "You're going to have to do better than that, kid." she taunted, then withdrew. Ten got back on her feet and charged again, throwing first one punch, then a second - both aimed directly at Melanie's face.

She was quick, the little bitch. But Melanie was faster still, and she intercepted first one, then the second before backhanding her across the face, following up with a vicious low punch to the stomach that knocked the wind out of her, and a final blow to the side of the head, just behind the right ear.

She crumpled, unconscious.

"BEHIND YOU!" Someone yelled, and she whirled instantly, activating the suit's electromagnetic shields barely in time to block a thrown knife, courtesy of Jack.

She moved to counterattack, but he slipped into the crowd. She could still see him, but she couldn't get to him. Not without endangering the guests/passengers - which her opponent knew.

"Damn it." She muttered under her breath. She couldn't dodge his attacks without running the risk of someone being hit, and she couldn't attack him, the crowd was too dense. "Bastard."

So she went airborne, deploying and spreading her massive wings and taking flight. Then she spotted him. He looked up and threw a pair of knives, but this time she dodged, and the weapons sailed harmlessly past her.  
Then she dove to close the gap. Jack tried to flee, but the crowd scattered somewhat and his cover thinned.

She bowled him over just like she had King, but he drew a short sword and attacked. She deployed the suit's three forearm-mounted spikes, parrying the blade, then head-butted him. Dazed, Jack couldn't counter in time when she kneed him in the groin and he collapsed, doubled over and groaning in pain.

"That's quite enough." King's voice. She turned around, and swore under her breath.  
He was back on his hoverboard, and he had taken a woman - one of the guests -hostage.

"Stand down and leave, or this poor ruffian pays the price." He demanded, gloating. He held his blade held loosely at his side, but still his meaning was clear: She backed off, or he would run her through.

She hesitated for a second. Then she grinned when she recognized the hostage.

"Wha…" King started to say when he saw his antagonist smiling, but he couldn't quite get the words out before Elena Montoya drove the stiletto heel of her shoe into his foot as hard as she could. Yelling in pain, he threw her off.

Melanie was on the move in a split second. She unfurled the suit's wings and dove for the water, coming up below the detective and catching her, careful to decrease her own speed gradually before leveling off, skimming the waves. Then she took flight back up again. By the time they'd reached deck level, Montoya had withdrawn a subcompact pistol from a concealed thigh holster, while Melanie heard gunfire from the deck.

Almost before her feet hit the deck, Montoya leveled her own weapon and opened fire. Gordon's undercovers had formed a cordon at the forefront of the crowd, aiming their weapons at King and Queen, while a second group held Jack pinned.  
The unconscious Ten had already been handcuffed and taken belowdecks by security.

Suddenly, there was a thunderous explosion from astern, and the deck rocked. Many of the cops stumbled.

"What the hell just happened?" Melanie heard Gordon yelling. She also heard, on the suit's integrated comms, the reply.

\- "Someone fired an RPG at the ship from shore - hit the stern at the waterline; the ship's taking on water, fast!"

King laughed.  
\- "What will you do now? Evacuate the rabble and allow us to escape - or pursue, and let them die?"

Barbara heard the gloating in his tone and wanted nothing better than to rip off that stupid little fucking beard and shove it down his throat. Melanie, some distance away, felt likewise as Jack limped back to his hoverboard and rejoined the others. Then the Gang took off, fleeing up the coast.

"BATGIRL!" She heard, and turned around. Gordon, glaring at her. "GO! We'll deal with the evacuation - just catch the bastards already!"

\- "On it!" she replied with a curt nod, which the Commissioner returned. And she took off, moving fast. She knew precisely how fast and how maneuverable those boards were. And she knew that she was faster still.

By the time she caught up, Ace had rejoined them, a heavy anti-tank launcher slung across his back.  
He and King were arguing over something - probably over Ten having been left behind, which made sense if their guess as to the Gang's identities was correct.

Jack brought up the rear, and so she attacked him first, firing a batarang that sliced through his belt, relieving him of the short sword he carried, and almost losing the bag that contained his take. Ace pulled back and dove, catching the bag one-handed, while Jack fired another volley of knives, which she nimbly dodged. She threw a batarang at Jack, then a second shot, aimed at his board. Jack parried the batarang with one of his knives.

From below, Ace fired a rocket up at her and she fired a batarang at it, detonating the projectile midway between them, before launching a line that snagged the weapon and yanked it from the big man's grip. She released the weapon, which fell into the water.

The group turned inland just as she overtook Jack, landing on the board and kicking him in the back, nearly causing him to fall clear off. But he recovered, whirling, and slashed with one of his knives up towards her face. She dove, and at that point had to back off to avoid Ace, barreling up towards her.

King joined in, firing an electromagnetic blast from his own weapon, which Melanie basically ignored. But before she could continue the pursuit, the Gang continued, rounding a corner and disappearing. Melanie did not pursue.

She turned back down towards the ship, her lips curled in a thin smile.

* * *

**GOTHAM CITY GENERAL HOSPITAL**

"Man, it's good to finally be on my feet." Terry commented, grinning. He winced a little as he took a tentative step forward, leaning on a single crutch to support his healing leg.

Next to him were his mother and Matt. With them, Melanie. All three of them looked at once relieved and concerned, but he wasn't too worried. Doctor Elliot, who had mostly been in charge of Terry's care since he had checked into the hospital, was also present, looking stern.

\- "Well, Terry," Elliot commented, "your injuries are healed for the most part, but that leg is still fragile. I'm going to want you to come in again in a couple of weeks so we can continue to keep an eye on it until it's fully healed, but as long as you're careful, there's no reason you shouldn't make a full recovery."

\- "Thanks, Doc." Terry replied.

\- "Terry," Mary spoke up, "listen to Doctor Elliot. He only wants to make sure you don't get hurt even worse. And so do I."

\- "I know, Mom." Terry replied. He wasn't grinning anymore, but looked concerned. "I promise I'll be careful."

"And I'll be having a word with Mr. Wayne as well." Mary continued. "I don't want you going back to work again until you're completely recovered."

Terry almost grinned at that one. A few years earlier, the last time his mother "had a word with Mr. Wayne" - over their regular week-end family get-togethers - it had not been a fun conversation for the old man, and he was kind of looking forward to seeing how Wayne would react this time.

"Now come on," Melanie said, smiling as she too pondered the same question, "let's get you checked out and go home."

The four of them had dinner together at home, after which Mary McGinnis drove them both back up to the campus.

"Gonna need to figure out what to do next - without the bike, it's gonna be harder to get around." Terry commented as he and Melanie stood together outside the campus apartment building where they lived.

\- "The insurance paperwork still hasn't come through on the accident." Melanie commented. "But with how badly totalled the bike was, plus the fact that the driver was drunk and it was clearly his fault…I don't know. But we'll manage until then. Together."

\- "I know we will." Terry replied, smiling warmly as they stood together, looking out at the city they called home. "And thanks for covering for me while I was out."

"You heard your mom - you're not going back out there yet." she said firmly, and then she kissed him, slowly. "That's why I'm here." she added softly.

And though he said nothing, both of them knew how grateful Terry was that she was there for him. They didn't need to say anything.

Over the days that followed, Terry got caught up on what he had missed while he was in the hospital, especially at school, and kept his mother and Wayne apprised of his progress.

Melanie continued to work nights in his stead, keeping a careful eye out for any movement from the Royal Flush Gang. But despite the silence, she knew they were still in Gotham, and that it wasn't over yet. Sooner or later, the Gang would make another move on their next target.

They needed to take them down before they did. And they would.

At the same time, she thought with continued concern, her mother was still out there. What she was planning, Melanie did not know.  
"Where are you, Mom?" she asked in a whisper as she stood on the highest pinnacle of Wayne-Fox's headquarters. "And what are you planning?"

Whatever it was, she knew that if it came to it, she would have to take down her mother as well as her father. And she was not looking forward to that.  
But she would do what she had to, no matter her own personal feelings on the subject. Still, she regretted that it had come to this, and she was disappointed that after their conversation, her mother still valued her own heritage and prejudices so much.

Shaking her head, she spread her wings and took off silently, disappearing into the night. Though, she thought, it never really got completely dark in Gotham. And yet, the shadows clung to the city all the same.

That's why she was there.

* * *

As she walked along the street, bent over and wearing a tattered overcoat, her head down, nobody gave her a second glance. They all were too occupied by their own affairs. So she made her way towards her destination, walking with a shuffling, tired stride.

She had not been here since she was a child, but her father had maintained this place and several others like it in various cities throughout the country, including Star City, Metropolis, and a handful of others. Many of these had been found by the police in the years since, but some had not - such as, she hoped, this one.

So, very carefully taking a look around to ensure nobody was watching, she slipped unobtrusively into the building, a decrepit tenement building in Old Gotham that hadn't seen a new coat of paint in decades. She entered the access code that opened the door, and entered the apartment - whose lush appointments belied its exterior.  
On a certain level, she was surprised this place was still intact even after all this time, and hoped her luck would hold. It did, and she was relieved to find exactly what she had expected and hoped would still be there. She packed everything into a knapsack she had carried specifically for that purpose.

Her task accomplished, she locked the tiny apartment - probably for the last time - and slipped away. Now, she had nearly everything she needed, and soon she would be ready to make her next move…


	16. 16: The Final Confrontation

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
Chapter 16**

**Gotham State University**

The morning had been tough, but manageable. Terry was just glad to be out of the hospital and able to move around, even if he had to rely on a crutch.  
He'd turned in the assignments he'd completed while in the hospital, and taken make-up exams for the mid-terms he'd missed. Now, he finally was looking forward to sitting down to lunch. As he and Melanie made their way there, they spotted Max and Chelsea, and hailed them.

"Holy shit, Terry!" Chelsea exclaimed, surprising the three others - Chelsea very rarely swore at all. "It's been ages - Mel told me all about what happened. Glad to see you're out of the hospital."

\- "Yeah, got out just last night. Still recovering, but as long as I'm careful, shouldn't be a problem." Terry replied with an easy grin as he sat down next to Max. Melanie took a seat across from him, next to Chelsea.

They discussed his accident and what would happen next, but the conversation soon moved to the biggest topic of discussion since the _High Card_ heist a few days earlier.

"Batgirl?" Terry exclaimed, feigning interest. "Yeah, I heard about that on the news the other day. Sort of weird, isn't it? I mean, Batman is one thing, but…"

\- "Oh my God, _I know_, right?" Chelsea exclaimed. "But there were a whole bunch of people who saw her - definitely a girl. Kinda makes you wonder who it is, and where Batman's gotten to."

\- "And," Max added, "you remember that heist in Blüdhaven a while back? Story goes, she was there too!"

\- "Yeah, I remember." Terry commented. "Hang on, Mel. Wasn't that around the time you went to visit your brother? Did you see anything?"

\- "Afraid not." Melanie replied, playing along. "I mean, I saw the thieves arrive, but I went to go get my phone, and after that I was stuck. I didn't see what happened, but from what I learned afterwards, Jack told me she saved his life."

\- "Damn." Chelsea commented. "That must've been pretty intense."  
The discussion continued until Max announced that she had to leave to make her next class, and not long after that Terry limped away as well.

Chelsea and Melanie had their next class together, and as they made their way there, Chelsea asked.  
"So I'll bet you're glad to see him up and about again, huh?"

\- "You have no idea how glad." Melanie said. "But he's not completely healed yet…and until he is, I guess I can't help but worry about him."

That evening, Max stopped by Terry's and Melanie's apartment. Terry was lying down on the couch, his injured left leg stretched out, the crutch on the floor. Melanie had taken the adjacent seat, and Max pulled up a chair and sat down next to her, across from Terry.  
"So how's it feel to be the talk of the town, girl?" she asked Melanie, grinning. "You gonna give it up now Terry's out of the hospital?"

\- "Not yet." Terry commented. "I don't think she's ready to give me the suit back until my leg's done healing - of course, I'm sure Wayne will have something to say about that."

\- "Let him." Melanie commented. "Even he has to admit that you can't go back out there yet."

\- "What about you both going out there?" Max suggested, addressing Terry. "That way, she could watch your back, and grumpy-ass could watch you both."

\- "Only one problem, Max: There's only one Batsuit." Melanie commented - though the idea had appeal to her.

\- "True." Max conceded. "Though there doesn't have to be."

\- "You're not serious. You mean build _a second Batsuit_?" Terry asked, raising an eyebrow.

\- "Yeah. I mean we couldn't." She said. "Though, I've given it some serious thought myself. I've even thought about trying to do it."

\- "You have?" Terry asked, surprised. Melanie was much less so, because they'd discussed the possibility once previously.

\- "Yeah." Max continued. "Unfortunately, it'd be way too difficult to get the kind of materials we'd need to even be able to come close to what Wayne's built. But he could do it, I'm sure.

Melanie snorted derisively.  
\- "Yeah, that'll happen." She commented sarcastically. "The paranoid old man who hates me, build another Batsuit for me to use."

Terry said nothing, a pensive expression on his face. He knew Wayne as well as anyone except for Gordon or Drake. And he didn't think the old man hated Melanie - he just didn't entirely trust her. Though the fact he'd allowed her to continue this long indicated that unlike before, he may have at least partly trusted her, or at least given her the benefit of the doubt.

Wayne knew how Terry himself felt - they'd talked about it - or, more frequently, argued about it - often enough over the past year. And it was very unlikely that the old man would change his mind…

* * *

The following day after class, Melanie went into the Kitchen, taking the bag with her that she had been using to carry the suit.

Terry, meanwhile, stayed at the apartment and rested, until late in the day he finally decided to make his way to the Wayne mansion. He had to use public transportation, and to call ahead for Wayne to pick him up. The old man looked irritated, but did not comment.

As soon as they arrived, Ace ran towards them, but slowed his pace at a sharp command from his owner.

"Hey, pooch." Terry commented, scratching behind the dog's ear. "You miss me?"  
Ace replied with a loud, booming bark, his tail whipping from side to side.

Terry looked up and noticed a metal case on the table.  
"What's in there?" He asked.

Wayne opened the case to reveal a stiff, gleaming apparatus, vaguely cylindrical in shape, but wider on one side than the other. He also noted a set of articulations at the narrower end, like joints.  
\- "It's a prototype support brace." Wayne replied. "Wayne-Fox's medical division has been working on a range of products like this to be marketed towards people who have suffered significant injuries by stabilizing the injured limb and promoting the healing process, while at the same time allowing limited active use of the limb."

\- "Pretty schway." Terry commented. "Looks like the servos are similar to the suit's."

\- "The production model will have rudimentary servos to allow limited movement of joints, but obviously stability is prioritized over ease of movement. I have reinforced and upgraded the prototype using the same servos as the Batsuit."

\- "Meaning I should be able to get back to work more rapidly, as long as I'm careful."  
Bruce nodded.  
"Okay," Terry continued. "Let's check to see how this thing fits."

The brace turned out to fit perfectly, which was good. Once it was on, Terry gingerly stood and tried to walk on it. There was some slight pain, but he was able to get around.  
It took a few tries, but he found he didn't even really need the crutch, as long as he was careful.

"All right." He commented. "This is going to work great."

Wayne nodded grimly, but the old man was relieved. As long as Terry was careful, he could walk. Whether he would be able to actually fight on his injured leg, that was yet to be determined.

Taking up the crutch, Terry stood and the two of them made their way down to the cave.

They were still working on getting Terry used to moving around again a few hours later when Melanie arrived, fully suited up, and entered through the cave.  
"Terry!" She hailed as soon as she removed the cowl. She turned on Wayne. "What the hell's going on?"

\- "Check this out, Melanie." Terry replied, and showed her the brace he wore on his leg. He explained what they were doing, and she relaxed slightly.

\- "Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked Terry, sounding worried.

\- "Yeah, I'm fine." He said. "This should help me get back on my feet again while my leg's healing up."

Melanie glanced over her shoulder at the old man, and before Wayne could say anything, she spoke, preempting him.  
\- "You're still not ready to go back out there." She said. "Not on a leg still healing from a compound fracture."

\- "That's not up to you." Wayne commented sharply. Melanie ignored him. "The suit is not yours, and you don't get to decide what Terry does with it."

Melanie ignored the old man and made her way over to the computer, typing in a few commands.  
"The Royal Flush Gang is still out there." she commented. "After the _High Card_ heist, I think we have a little time before they make their next move, but the sooner we take them out, the better."

\- "So, we need to determine their next target," Terry supplied, "and try to pre-empt them the way we did with the _Card_."

\- "I wouldn't call that a successful interception." Wayne commented gruffly. "The Gang still got away."

\- "Because _I let them_." Melanie commented. "I'm done waiting for them to make the next move. I think we need to take the fight to them directly this time."

\- "And how are we supposed to do that?" Wayne asked, skeptical.

\- "Mr. Wayne has a point, Melanie." Terry agreed. "We don't know where they're hiding. They're not going to use one that you know about, and with your mother somewhere out there on the run, we can't ask her either."

\- "We don't need to." Melanie replied smugly. She hit a key, and brought up a wide map of Gotham and its surroundings. Then she called up a program, entered a command, and executed it. A single red dot appeared, blinking in a far corner of the map. "I already know where they are."

\- "Is that…well, slag me." Terry commented, whistling. "You planted a tracker on them."

\- "On Jack's board." She replied, still smiling smugly. "Then I let them get away so that they would lead us to their hideout. That way, I can go after them and take them out."

Wayne opened his mouth to protest, but she preempted him again.|"Don't even start." She said sharply. "You're not sending Terry out there. Not while his leg's still recovering."

She knew how dangerous her father and his Gang were - especially the false Queen. Ten might have been captured, but there were still four of them, and Queen and Ace were the most dangerous - she because of her skill and viciousness, he because of his enormous physical strength.

She had to be the one to take them down. With his leg still healing, Terry would be in too much danger.

Deep down, however, she knew that even after Terry's recovery was complete, she probably would not give this up. It meant too much to the both of them, and she loved Terry too much to simply sit back while he was out there risking his neck.  
More than anything, what she wanted, if she was honest with herself, was to share this responsibility with him. But with only one Batsuit, it was impossible.

\- "Ms. Walker, I insist you return that suit to me immediately." Wayne demanded.

\- "I refuse." Melanie replied firmly, turning around to face Wayne, her arms crossed. For a few moments, there was silence as the two of them glared at each other. Then, the old man sighed wearily.

She was stubborn. Like Terry. But in the time since the accident, since he had been forced to watch as she took his place, he had gotten to know the girl a little better, to understand what had driven her to do what she did.

He didn't like it.

\- "You took the Batsuit without his knowledge or his authorization. Nor mine." He said. "Because, you claim, you were concerned about him, and about what he did."

\- "I did." Melanie said. "And I stand by what I said before. I knew, and I still know how important Terry is, how much of a difference what he does makes. And I will not let him put himself in danger while he's still recovering. Especially not with my father and his cronies still out there."

\- "What you're saying is," Terry said, "you want to keep doing this."  
She nodded.

\- "I told you a year ago, Ms. Walker, that our actions are what defines who we are." Wayne continued.

\- "You did." Melanie said flatly. "So then you know who I am and why I did what I did." she said. "Starting with what happened in Crime Alley, and since. Still don't trust me though, do you?"  
The question was rhetorical, and all three of them knew it.

\- "Y'know," Terry spoke up, "I don't think I'd really mind having someone out there in the field to watch my back once I get back out there."

Wayne and Melanie both turned to him, somewhat surprised.

\- "I mean, you had Robin back in the day; Batgirl, too." He continued with a knowing grin as he looked at Wayne, gesturing over to the row of cylindrical safety-glass containers on the far wall of the cave. Batman, Batgirl, Nightwing, Robin.

Wayne shook his head, his expression neutral.  
\- "I have been doing this a very long time, and as much as I hate to admit it, your actions over the past few weeks have demonstrated your intentions."

\- "Meaning that you admit you were wrong about me." Melanie said, her full lips curving in a thin smile. Wayne chose to ignore the rebuke. She had a point.

\- "Terry's suggestion is an intriguing one." He continued. "That being said, as I've already stated, if you're going to do this, you're going to do it my way. And you are going to follow my instructions."

\- "Get to the point, Wayne." Melanie interrupted. "You're not telling me anything I don't already know."

Wayne sighed. Ace barked, and made his way over to where Terry and Melanie stood. Terry patted the big dog on the head, and Melanie smiled.  
She liked that dog, and the feeling was mutual - a far cry from how Terry had told her the massive animal had acted for the first few months they'd known each other.

Wayne intimated that they should follow him. He led them to the workbench, and unlocked a drawer in the top of the workbench. Then, he showed them what he had been working on.  
Terry looked surprised. Melanie, however, simply smiled.

* * *

Richard Walker was seated at a long table, looking at his accomplices - his mistress, Sable Thorpe, his new Queen; the hulking Chet O'Keefe, the new Ace; and the sallow-faced, cruel Jack, Wyatt Trantell.  
Walker was irritated at the recent setbacks his Royal Flush Gang had suffered, in particular due to the interference of the so-called Batgirl, for several reasons.

Of their three heists so far, one had been a complete failure because of her, and the latest, while successful, had not been as lucrative as they had hoped, partly because of her as well as because of the unexpected appearance of the police.

Even more than this, what irritated him was the absence of Batman. This pretender who was persecuting them was denying him the revenge he so desired against the man who had torn apart the previous iteration of the Gang.

"Well then," he said coldly, "we need to start planning our next move. And we need to plan for interference, so that we can take the appropriate measures."

They all knew their next target, and when they would strike. But now they had to account for the probability that the police or Batgirl would be able to mount a resistance. And they needed to do so without Ten, who had gotten herself captured.

He stood, and Thorpe stood as well, following him.  
"We will take down that little brat who dares to engage us, if she appears." Walker continued, turning to Thorpe. "I am counting on you, darling, to do this."

\- "Of course," she assented. "If she shows up, she will pay the price for her insolence."

\- "Good." Walker continued, stepping away from his mistress towards a large map displayed on the far wall. "I must say, in spite of Ten's regrettable incompetence, we did well with this last one."

At the table, O'Keefe shifted uncomfortably. Ten's capture had been an unfortunate setback, and he still thought they should do something about it. King, however, disagreed - Ten had failed the family, and would pay the price for her incompetence. That was his view, and he had not changed it.

However, suddenly a bolt of electrical energy surged across the room, striking Sable Thorpe in the back. She cried out in pain, and fell where she stood.  
"WHAT?" Walker exclaimed as he turned around, and he gaped when he recognized the attacker: His ex-wife. "How…"

\- "How?" Donna, who was unmasked but otherwise wearing the garb of the Queen of the Royal Flush Gang, hissed, her expression a twisted mask of rage. "The Royal Flush Gang is _my_ bloodline, you treacherous peasant. Did you really think you could hide from me here of all places? My father built this place!"

Instantly, Jack and Ace were on their feet and moved to strike, Trantell throwing a volley of knives at the intruder, who avoided them easily. However, Ace closed in fast, swinging a massively strong arm in a fast punch aimed at her face.

She dodged the attack and stepped back, knowing that the man's enormous strength meant she had no chance of taking him down in hand-to-hand combat. Instead she struck with her staff, launching a blast of electrical energy that dazed the enormous O'Keefe, but failed to take him out.

When Jack struck with his short sword, she batted the weapon aside with her staff and struck, kicking him in the stomach hard enough to knock the wind out of him.

"Is this all you're capable of?" she spat derisively, before slamming her staff in Trantell's face hard enough that they all heard the crack of bone as she broke his nose. "You're despicable. A disgrace!"

She turned her attention to her ex-husband and fired another blast, which he avoided by ducking behind a support column. He attempted a counterattack, discharging a burst from his own weapon that she intercepted with her staff, before firing again.  
"Not a day has gone by that I have not regretted my failure to end your miserable existence, husband." She railed. "But today, I aim to rectify that mistake."

She attacked again, stealing one of their hover boards in order to strike from the air, where neither Ace nor Jack could pursue - not after she fired an attack that fried all three of the other boards.

King ducked to avoid her attack, but he could not pursue.

Sable Thorpe shook her head groggily, getting back to her feet. As she did, Trantell fired another volley of throwing knives at her predecessor. His broken nose bled profusely, and the pain made it difficult to concentrate, so that Donna easily avoided the attack before firing a sustained burst from her staff that electrocuted him so badly he lost consciousness.

Jack's short sword fell to the ground.

Ace picked up a small table from the corner and used his enormous strength to throw it directly at Queen, who was forced to evade. The table slammed into the far wall and broke into pieces that fell to the ground.  
Thorpe used the distraction to grab Jack's sword, and she threw it, aimed directly at the hover board. The blade impaled the board, and with a cry of surprise and anger, Donna Walker jumped off, landing gracefully on her feet as the destroyed board fell behind her.

Then Thorpe struck. As Queen turned around to face her assailant, Thorpe ran and charged at her, slamming into her and knocking her off her feet.  
With a cry of pain, Donna lost her grip on her staff as she fell, and the weapon rolled away.

She was on her feet in seconds, but Thorpe attacked viciously, a hard kick that, had she not avoided it, would have thrown her back to the ground. She counterattacked, but Thorpe intercepted her attack and used her own momentum against her, throwing her across the room until she slammed into the nearest column.

Dazed, she fought to remain conscious and drag herself to her feet, but Thorpe was faster, viciously kicking her in the stomach and ribs, forcing her down, before unleashing a third kick straight at her head.

Her world went black.

\- "Well done, love." Walker said with an evil grin as he picked up his sword. "Now then, time to finish this once and for all."

\- "Well, that's no way to treat a lady." A grave voice said from somewhere nearby, before a line wrapped itself around his blade and tore it from his grasp. The weapon went flying out the window.

\- "BATMAN!" King snarled as he turned to face the black-clad intruder. Indeed it was Batman, who had at last stopped cowering behind a little girl and shown himself. "At last I will make you pay for what you've done to me. And when you're dead, I will deal with the former Queen."

\- "Let's see you try." Terry taunted.

King retrieved the short sword still embedded in the fallen board and charged, swinging the blade horizontally in a blow aimed to decapitate Batman.  
Terry parried the attack easily using the triple blades on his forearm, then head-butted King, before unleashing a hard punch that caught him in the jaw, throwing him back.

The Batman retreated a few steps, and Ace ran up behind him, wrapping his massive arms around the much smaller Batman, the pressure squeezing the breath out of him.

Terry winced, biting back a cry. His cracked ribs were healed, but still fragile, and if this kept up, they'd break again. He shifted his position and ignited the suit's boot thrusters. Both of them shot back until they slammed into a wall.  
Ace grunted, his grip slackened, and Batman shook himself free, just as King once again charged. He deployed the suit's enormous wings and took flight, narrowly avoiding the attack.

He lobbed a batarang at King, who parried with the short sword he carried. A massive electrical discharge slammed into Batman from behind - Thorpe had retrieved the fallen staff and attacked.

Shaking his head, he launched a pair of batarangs, one of which missed. The second, however, found its target, slicing a long, shallow groove in Thorpe's arm that caused her to cry out in pain, as well as drop the weapon.  
He folded the wings in and dove, slamming into King and bowling him off his feet. When he landed, Queen charged at him from behind. He nimbly sidestepped her attack and countered with a kick that sent him flying.

"Enough!" King snarled as he dragged himself to his feet. "Leave him to me, darling." he added, addressing Thorpe, who stepped back.

King had noticed something as the fight went on: The Batman seemed to be favoring one leg. A recent injury, perhaps. He was determined to use that to his advantage.

Retrieving his blade, he charged and struck, aiming his attack low.

_Shit._ Terry swore mentally as the blade charged in towards his right leg. Somehow, King had found an advantage. Terry stepped back, then aimed a hard right cross at King, but the old man stepped back, then in again.  
Terry avoided the attack again, but now he was surrounded - Ace on one side, Queen on the other cutting off his retreat. Queen had retrieved the staff she had earlier dropped. Jack still hadn't regained consciousness, and Terry doubted that he would for a while yet.

"Three on one now, huh?" He commented. "Guess it's time to even the odds."

At that moment, from above, a pair of batarangs shot towards King, both of which he parried.  
\- "What?" He exclaimed in momentary surprise.

Then a second dark form appeared above, dropping to the ground right behind Batman. It was a woman, wearing a suit nearly identical to Batman's own. Whereas the latter was all black except for the red emblem on its torso, the one worn by Batgirl was a mix of black and dark blue, with the emblem on her torso and a few small bits of detailing in a lighter, silver-blue color.  
She held a pair of stout black staves, about two feet long each - one in each hand.

Queen charged, staff held high, but Batgirl used one of the two fighting sticks she held in her hand to easily parry the attack, then drove the second into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

Before Queen could gather her breath, the Batgirl's weapon came down hard on her wrist, and again she yelled out in pain, dropping her staff.  
This time Batgirl kicked the weapon out of reach, then stepped aside just in time to avoid Thorpe's attack, a wild punch that had been aimed at her face.

She stowed the two short weapons in a compartment belted to her leg, then struck herself, a hard jab that connected with Thorpe's jaw. She nimbly avoided a high kick from Thorpe, then parried one, two blows, before striking in turn.

When Thorpe struck next, she intercepted the attack, then launched into a flying armbar - a move she'd practiced a number of times during her numerous training sessions in the cave.  
Not expecting the move, Thorpe was thrown to the ground, and the impact almost dislocated her shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain.  
Melanie disengaged instantly, then launched a hard strike that impacted just behind Thorpe's right ear, knocking her unconscious.

"Now it's two-on-two." she commented just as she launched herself at Ace, throwing him off his feet before he could attack Terry from behind.

She took up a position behind Terry, standing back to back. King, still armed, stood facing Terry. The stupendously strong Ace, meanwhile, dragged himself back to his feet again.

\- "Perhaps, girl." King spat haughtily. "But I still have the advantage. You are strong, I will admit, but you can't possibly hope to overwhelm Ace in a contest of strength. As for you, Batman, with your injury - yes, I know that you are injured, I can tell by the way you move."

\- "Get to the point, Walker." Terry retorted.

\- "Disrespectful cur." King replied. "The point then, is that you cannot hope to defeat me."

At that, both of his opponents grinned.  
"Actually, we don't have to." Batman commented. "We're just stalling."

The next instant, the door was blasted off its hinges as a massive contingent of police officers, wearing tactical body armor and helmets and wielding heavy weapons, entered the building. The instant King raised his weapon, Detective Montoya of the Gotham City Police Department opened fire, a single shot impacting the blade and forcing him to drop it.

Commissioners Grayson and Gordon entered once King and Ace had been subdued. The unconscious Jack and Queen had been taken into custody as well, and medical teams were looking them over.

"Somehow, I'm not at all surprised to see you two here." Gordon commented tartly as she noticed the McGinnis kid standing there. The other one had to be the Walker kid, though she was surprised by the fact that, evidently, Bruce had built a second suit.

\- "At the _High Card_ heist, I planted a tracker on Jack's board." she said. "That's how we tracked them to this place."

\- "Not bad." commented Gordon. "Now it's time for us to do our jobs."  
Melanie smiled. And within moments, they were gone.

Dick was smiling.  
\- "So," he commented in an undertone, "I get the feeling you know more about this than I do, Babs."

\- "I'll tell you later." Barbara Gordon replied. And she got to work.

Meanwhile, high above, a sleek black vehicle took off and shot away from the disaffected hotel that served as the Gang's hideout, disappearing down a side street as it headed north.


	17. EPILOGUE

**BATMAN BEYOND:  
The Second Rebirth  
EPILOGUE**

**Belle Reve Correctional Facility  
A few weeks later**

Donna Walker glanced out the window of her cell, and sighed. Her ex-husband and his accomplices had been arrested and incarcerated - he at Skryker's Island, some at Stonegate, others at different prisons. Their assets, as well as all remaining concealed assets that had remained of the prior Royal Flush Gang had been seized, all remaining safe houses found and dismantled.

There was nothing left, now. Once and for all, the Royal Flush Gang was finished.

In the aftermath, she had been transferred to Belle Reve - once a maximum-security prison, it had been converted to a medium-security facility following substantial renovations to Stryker's Island. The charges that had led to her incarceration at Stryker's had been dropped. As for the "break-out", no record of it remained.  
She stood, and walked slowly into a communal area, where she was greeted by several other inmates. She returned the greeting and continued, until she reached her destination. She sat down, under close supervision by one of the guards, and waited.

Soon, the door on the other side of the room opened and a tall, elegant young woman entered, closely followed by a broad-shouldered young man, dark-haired and carelessly handsome.

Donna Walker stood and, for the first time in nearly four years, hugged her daughter. They both sat down, and she introduced the young man who had come with her as Terry McGinnis.

Then Melanie asked the question that had weighed on her mind for weeks.  
\- "Mom…I heard in the news that Dad's gang was arrested a few weeks ago, and you were there. Is that why you broke out?"  
Mrs. Walker hesitated, glancing at the dark young man who sat by Melanie. "He knows, Mom." Melanie said. "About me - about us. I've told him all about it."

\- "Yes, you are correct." Mrs. Walker said carefully after a while. "After you told me about your father, I decided to act on it. The breakout was staged, of course. Arranged as part of a deal with the District Attorney's office."

\- "And your transfer here was a part of that deal." Melanie continued, visibly relieved. Donna nodded.

\- "Now then, Melanie." Donna said. "Tell me about yourself."

"Well, Terry and I both work for Mr. Wayne." she said. She had given her two weeks' notice to Cal the day after the gang's capture, and now both worked for Wayne. Still, the Kitchen was one of hers and Terry's favorite places. They went there often. "We're both attending Gotham State, and we live together on-campus."

Donna was glad to see her daughter was happy, though it pained her that she could not be a part of it. Their conversation lasted at least an hour.

\- "You were right, you know." Melanie said after a while. "That night all those years ago - do you remember?"

Donna nodded, uneasily. She remembered the night Melanie referred to. She had learned that Melanie had met a boy, and had criticized her decision not to introduce him to them. She had added that one day, Melanie would meet her King.  
"But you were wrong, in a way, too - money's not what it's about." Melanie continued. "But when I met Terry, I knew he was the one. I just wish it hadn't taken me so long to realize it."

\- "As long as you're happy, Melanie." Donna said with a sad sort of smile. "That's all that matters."

Terry and Melanie left not long after that, returning to Gotham.

Later, they stood on top of Wayne Tower, as the sun was setting.  
Terry, of course, was still recovering, but soon his injuries would heal completely. And now, at least, she wouldn't have to worry about him anymore.

She smiled, and kissed him, slowly. Then they each pulled the black cowl over their face. Time to get to work.  
But as they took off, she knew that they would always be together.

And that's all that mattered.


End file.
